Sonic meets Metallica
by FanWriter3
Summary: Metallica has been sucked from Earth to Mobius by Dr. Robotnik as part of another sinister plot. Now, the Sonic Underground must team up with lead singer James Hetfield to free the band and stop the evil doctor for good. COMPLETE!
1. A Rediculous Idea

**_Disscalimer: __I _****_do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or the series "Sonic Underground", nor any character within. I do not own nor am in contact in anyway waywith Metallica or any of it's band members. All songs and lyrics depicted here are property of Metallica and the owners of Sonic Underground._**

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_Author's Note: This is my first ever Sonic fic. It's a quick work soI can see how I do writing with Sonic, as I intend to do more stories with him. Basically, this story is an idea I've always had of seeing my favorite band meeting up with my favorite game character. I have made it so that Metallica has not yet realeased the St. Anger album, and Jason Newsted never left the band. In the Sonic part of the story, I have added Tails, really to balance out both bands for later on. As a word of warning, some of the lyrics I have written here from Metallica contain heavy cursing, so read at your own risk. And of course, enjoy and please fell free to post a review._

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A black tour bus rolled down the highway, followed close behind by a gear truck, also painted black. It was a sign that a band was on tour. The large silver letters down the side of the bus said it all. Metallica. 

Inside the bus, behind the driver's area, the band members sat relaxed, enjoying the ride, as there wasn't much else to do when you've been riding 16 hours.

At a table by one of the large windows, Kirk Hammet, the lead guitarist, sat across from Bass player Jason Newsted. On the table between them was a deck of cards. Both me eyed each other suspiciously over the top of their hand.

"Got any three's?" Jason asked.

Kirk looked down at his hand, and purposely moved each card, taking his time. Jason kept an eye on his opponent.

"Well?"

Kirk smiled slyly and looked back up. "Go fish."

Jason's anticipation drained.

"Damn it!" he said in frustration as he reached down for another card.

At the adjacent table, lead singer James Hetfield looked up from his magazine. He watched the game at hand and laughed. "Getting killed again, huh Jason?"

"You try coming over here and playing this bitch." Jason responded without looking up.

Kirk chuckled. "He's just pissed cause I beat his ass five times in a row."

James shook his head. "You'd think he would've learned by now," he said sarcastically.

Jason muttered something under his breath as Jameschuckledand returned to his magazine.

After a few more minutes, he got bored reading. He sighedandthrew the magazine up onto the table. He leaned back in the seat relaxed. The thoughts on his mind were centered on the up coming concert that night. He always enjoyed performing in front of hundreds of fans. The excitement of the crowd and the rush of energy he got on stage was incredible. But he wanted something new. For 20 years, he had been getting that rush on stage. He wanted a fresh expirience. Something that neither the band nor any of its fans would believe possible.

He didn't dwell on that thought for long though. He didn't want to let it bother him. He shook it off, and then reached over to the TV remote on the table.

He flicked on the TV above the table and settled into his chair, his finger pressing up on the channel button. He went through channel after channel. MTV, MTV2, The weather Channel; none of it really caught his interest. After a few minutes of surfing, he was just about ready to shut it off. But then he came across something. He stopped on a channel showing a cartoon.

On the screen, 3 hedgehogs were performing on stage. A blue one, a green one, and a pink one. James recognized the blue one as Sonic the hedgehog. He knew cause his daughter played the game a lot and watched the Tv show's they had about him. He didn't know the others. But it kept his interest cause they seemed to be performing rock music. This amused James; Animals playing rock music. He put the remote down and listened. It was a lot different from the stuff Metallica played, and they didn't have a forth member, but to him it sounded kick ass for a cartoon.

As he watched, Lars Ulrich, the drummer, walked out of the bathroom behind him. The first thing he saw was the cartoon on TV, and he immedielty took on a confused expression. "What the fuck are you watching, man?" he asked, supprised by the fact that the lead singer of a tough metal band was watching cartoons.

James looked up. "Ah, just channel surfing. I was just curious about that shit." He said, pointing to the TV.

Lars looked on the screen and watched the hedgehogs play. "Looks like a fuckin' kid's show."

Kirk and Jason got up from their card game and walked over. Kirk seemed to recognize it right away. "Oh, that's that one show…uh…Sonic Underground. Yeah."

All the band members looked at him.

"What? I know it cause my kid watches it all the time."

"For hedgehogs, they can rock." Jason said.

"Say, I think the green one drums better than Lars." Kirk said, laughing.

Lars glanced at him, a hurt expression on his face. "Fuck, if he were real, I'd burn his ass like a fucking forest."

They watched the screen. "Hey, maybe we could have a concert with em' if they were real." James said, chuckling. Everyone else broke out laughing.

"Yeah, I can see the advertisement now." Kirk said. "Sonic the Hedgehog and Metallica, Live!" Everyone laughed harder. It was an idea that was rediculous. But deep down, james was thinking about it. What if it were possible?


	2. Robotnik's Discovery

_Okay, I figured that many would hate the first chapter, so I re-wrote it. As for this chapter, (Actually, the rest of the story) I'll say this. I don't know a whole lot about the Sonic Underground series as much as I do the Sonic X series, so please excuse the fact that many of my descriptions of some of the other characters are a little off. Also, Please review this so I can know how I'm doing. I enjoy reading the reader's comments, as it helps me make improvements. Feel free to be honest, but don't just outright flame the story. Thank you and enjoy the new chapter._

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Dr. Robotnik sat inside his huge base, staring at asecurity monitor consolein frustration. On the screen various screens, it showed, from a SWAT Bots point of view, Sonic, Manic, and Sonia laying waste to the robots left and right. 

"Damn those stupid hedgehogs." He muttered under his breath.

One camera after another lost signals the bots were destroyed. Robotnik's frustration grew as eachmoniter went fuzzy. One operational camera view remained, and it showed Sonic charging at rapid speed, right at the camera. The screen flashed violently and went black as the last of an army of SWAT bots had been shut down. Robotnik's face reddened with anger and he threw the remote at the console, the impact destroying one of the larger moniters.

"Great," he muttered. "Now I need _another_ new TV moniter in here."

A door opened, and a small wolf looking creature, only slightly bigger than the hedgehogs. He was Sleet, Robotnik's assistant.

"Something troubling you, Dr.?"

Robotnik looked up at him and stared blankly at him for a minute.

"Oh no," he said, talking softly but clearly pissed. "That blasted group of hedgehogs once again destroyeda number ofmy SWAT Bots, and again, foiled one of my plans to cature them."

His tone elevated.

"Why in the world would I be troubled by that?"

Sleet shook his head. "You act like it was your most brilliant scheme, Doctor."

Robotnik raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"Come on, Doctor. Send a bunch of SWAT Bots to go and force Sonic and his team to surrender? Not the best thing you've come up with. In fact, you tried the same plan last month as well."

Robotnik sighed.

"I suppose you're right. But the thing is..."

"And last year you tried the same plan 5 times in a row; they all failed..."

"Thank you Sleet..."

"And the year before that..."

"Alright..."

"Oh and we certinly can't forget that one great time when you had..."

"**ENOUGH!**"

Robotnik's voice eched off the steel walls of the building. Sleet quickly shut his mouth as the doctor's blood red eyes glared at him.

"As I was saying," Robotnik said slowly, "It's hard to come up with good ideas when all your other plans fail."

He calmed down a little.

"As you so boldly pointed out, I've tried the same thing for many years. Whenever I try to come up with something new, the idea is always either flawed at the start or the hedgehog ruins it. It always looks like a lose - lose situation."

Sleet was surprised to see the Doctor so down on himself. But he didn't want to show it.

"Doctor, it seems you're also forgetting that other project you had instructed us to complete."

Robotnik looked up, seemilngly not knowing what the wolf was talking about.

"What do you mean?"

"The inter-dimensional portal sir? The one you had us assemble two weeks ago?"

Robotnik stodd there for a minute, his mind drawing a blank. It took almost a full five minutes for him to realize what was going on.

"Ah yes," he said with a smile, "my InterDimensional Portal. Tell me, how is it coming along?"

Sleet smiled slightly. "Ready to be tested, sir. I just came to let you know. That is, if you care to join us."

Robotnik's smile widened into a grin.

"Of course. I want be there when my new little device comes to life."

Robotnik quickly walked to the door, practically leaving Sleet in the dust. The wolf continued tostand there as the doctor left. He shook his head.

"I at least hope the poor guy remembers wich lab we built it in."

A few minutes later, both Sleet and Robotnik walked down the dark corridor to the main enginnereing lab. The whole way, Robotnik kept talking like a kid in anticipation of christmas morning, not even really speaking to anyone in peticular. (Sleet wasn't paying much attention anyway.)

"I can't wait to see what other worlds we come across. Imagine the possibilities! Whole worlds without that blasted hedgehog and his musical friends."

He shook his head.

"That's what frustrates me the most. Every time I am defeated, the little pests put on a rock concert for all the people they saved. It's sickening."

They came to door at the end of the hall. It was large, and looked like it was made of some pretty sturdy material. clearly it was made to let the doctor and company go in, but keep Sonic and company out.

A keypad slid out of the wall next to the door.Robotnik punched in a quick number code, and iwaited as the computer verified it. A green light came on, and the keypad slid back into the wall, and the large door slowly slid open.

Inside, amongst crowded computer consoles and piles of mechanical parts, there was a large circular gate, almostreminiscent to the TV show, Stargate.Standing next to the machine was another creature, a dog like animal. He was had a large muscle built frame, but wasn't much taller then Sleet. He was Dingo. Another assistant to Robotnik, though in terms of brains, not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, in a manner of speaking.

He turned as the other two entered the room.

"It's all set, guys. Just waiting for you to turn it on."

"Excellent! Let's fire it up and see what we've created here." Robotnik seemed highly excited.

Sleet nodded."You heard him, Dingo. Turn on the machine."

Dingo turned and pressed a bright red button on a large console next to the portal. At first, nothing happened. They all waited in anticipation, but there was nothing. The machine just stood there, not showing any activity. Robotnik's excited expression fell. They all stood there for several minutes before anyone spoke.

"Perhaps it needs minor adjusting" Sleet said.

"Get it working." Was all Robotnik could say.

He slowly turned and headed for the door. Dingo stared blankly as the doctor left. Suddenly, something caught his eye behind the machine. He walked over and looked into the huge mess of wires and metal apliences going into the machine console. He looked past all of it to the floor, where he saw a large brown plug sitting just a foot from the wall.As if on instinct, he picked it up and plugged it back into it's slot among the wires. He didn't seem to know just what it went to though, even though any peron with half a brain could see it clear as day.

The plug was immedielty followed by a strange noise. Sleet looked up at the machine as lights began flashing in sequence around the portal. The doctor, who was just about to walk out of the room, stopped and stared back at the machine. The strange noise continued to get louder and more understandable. It was soon clear that the machine was transmitting…much to everyone's surprise…music.

Robotnik turned to Sleet and Dingo.

"Alright, what have I told you to about downloading your music into the main computers?"

The two creatures shook their heads. "That's not any of ours, Doctor."

"Then whose is it?" Robotnik asked, looking around.

It took him a while to figure out where it was coming from. Dingo looked into the portal. Something clicked in his less then average brain.

"It's coming from there!"

The music was indeed coming from the portal. The Device suddenly started spinning, faster and faster, gaining speed. An orb of energy formed in the center of the device, expanding and flattening, till it became almost like a mirror. As everyone watched in shock, a picture started forming. As it finally became clear, all three of them walked up to the machine, in awe at what they were seeing.

The image they were seeing was that of a band, on stage in front of thousands of people. They were playing a heavy style of music, the crowd going wild for it. Robotnik, without looking away, motioned to Sleet.

"What is this?"

Sleet broke away and walked over to the computerconsole. He looked over the data out-put.

"It seems that the device worked. We're viewing a planet called earth, in another dimension from ours. Dominant life consists of beings called 'Humans'." Robotnik walked closer still, his eyes glued to the image in amazement. On stage, a member of the band started singing to the music as he played an odd tune on his guitar.

_Make his fight, on a hill in the early day,_

_Constant chill deep inside!_

_Shouting gun, on they run, t__hrough the gndles gray,_

_On they fight, are they right? Yes but who's to say_.

_For a hill, men would kill, why? They do not know,_

_Stiffened wounds test thier pride!_

_Men of five, still alive through the raging glow,_

_Gone insane from the pain that they surley know!_

The crowd started going crazy as the man continued to sing the lyrics. The others watched it all on the machine as it happened. Sleet moved up and stared, still in surprise. He said just what Robotnik was thinking.

"They sound like Sonic and his band."

Robotnik couldn't help but agree.

The chorus to the song came on, and the whole audience started singing with the band's singer.

_For whom the bell tolls  
Time marches on  
For whom the bell tolls_

Sleet seemed surprised.

"Look how the people respond to them."

Robotnik glared. "Yes, it's almost like they control the audience."

Both of them looked down as they noticed Dingo, moving his head to the beat, and attempting to sing the words. He looked like a fool, actually. "The bell tolls for whom…" he sang. Sleet sighed and slapped him across the back of the head.

"Stay focused."

Robotnik noted Dingo's sudden urge to move and sing to the song. He looked at the band in the image as they started singing the next verse, the audience going wild again. "Control the audience…" He said slowly. Suddenly, it dawned on him. A plan. A plan that, if successful, would not only eliminate Sonic's resistance, but bring the entire planet under his control. He smiled evilly.


	3. Captured Band

Metallica finished off_For Whom the bell Tolls_,the last song of the night. The crowd went wild as Kirk played the ending solo. They ended with a bang as James moved up to the mike once more.

"Thank you fans! You're an awesome crowd! Metallica loves ya!" The people cheered wildly as james removed his guitar from around his neck. lars stepped out from behind his drum set, and kirk and Jason sonn followed as they all walked off the stage.

Inside the main building, a few minutes later, the band sat in the lounge room, drinking beers, talking about their performance.

"How about that one mosh pit when that guy got thrown up on the stage?" James asked, laughing.

"Had to kick him off cause he wouldn't move his ass." Jason said. Everyone laughed.

"I thinktomorrow's show will kick even more ass." Kirk said, after taking a huge gulp of his beer.

Jason and Lars looked at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, I just have a hunch that something's gonna happen that'll make the show really rock."

"All our shows fucking rock no matter what happens." Lars said.

"I'll drink to that," James said, rasing his beer. Everyone else raised thiers in a sort of toast. Then, they all downed another big gulp.

James then finished off his beer in one shot and swiftlycrushed the can against his forehead. He threw it across the room,perfectly into the trashcan by the enbtertainment center.He got up and made his way to the door.

"I'll be right back, dudes."

"Where you going?" Lars asked.

"A guy's gatta take a piss sometime."

He turned back to the door and pulled it open. But when he tried to step out, he was suddenly blocked. He glanced down at something odd in the doorway, something that confused him far beyond anything he could have imagined.

In the doorway, weapon raised at James, was the mechanical devise that could only be a SWAT Bot. He tilted his head in confusion, staring at the machine.

"What…the…fuck?" He said, slowly.

Without looking up, he yelled back into the room at his band mates.

"Hey guys, how many beers did I have?"

"You only had one, dude." came Kirk's reply.

"That's what I thought."

"Why, what's up?" Jason sounded back.

"I'm seeing some weird shit here, that's what's up."

Suddenly, the SWAT Bot moved forward, pushing James back into the room. Inside, the rest of the band sat confused, not seeing what was going on till James cleared the doorway. At the site of the odd machine before them, thier jaws dropped and they became spechless. They had never seen anything like this before.

A crash came from the other side of the room. Everyone turned their heads to see the back door wide open, and a row of bots standing right in front of it.

"What the fuck's going on?" was all Lars could spit out.

"If this is about that thing that happened last tour, tell the cops we're sorry."

Everyone stared at Lars.

"What thing that happened last tour?"

Lars went quiet, letting something slip that he shouldn't have.

"I'll explain later..." he said in almost a whiper.

While this was going on, a silver orb of energy started forming in the center of the room. Everyone turned andstared at it as it slowly grew.

Kirk looked down at his drink, then back up at the orb.

"I think we've had enough tonight," he said, slowly.He started dumping the beer on the floor. Jason and Lars followed up, yetnot breaking eye contact with whatever was going on in front of them.

When the orb stopped expanding, a small creature suddenly began to materialize from it. In a matter of seconds, Sleet stood in the middle of the room amongst the bots, and a very socked and confused Metallica.

Sleet looked around the room at the situation, and noticed the shocked looks on the faces of the band. "Metallica, I presume?" He said, coolly.

"Wh…who wants to know?" James asked, shocked.

"By order of doctor Robotnik, you are all to be taken to Mobius as captives."

"What the hell did we do?" Jasonasked.He glanced at Lars for a second.

"Other then what he was talking about..."

"You are all needed for a very special plan the good doctor has put together."

Everyone couldn't believe what they were hearing, or still seeing, for that matter.

"Why us?" Kirk asked. "I'll bet there are hundreds of other bands on this planet for this Robotnik guy to choose from."

"That is a question better suited for him, Mr. Hammet."

Kirk was caught off guard as to how this creture knew who he was. Hell, he was still trying to figure out how it was able to talk!

"Now, if you will simply follow me and come quietly, no one will be harmed."

The band looked at each other, surprised. Then they looked at the SWAT bots gathered around them. They looked so odd, but they did have weapons, and there was no way of telling weather it was a joke or not. It looked as if they didn't have a choice. Reluctantly, they walked toward the orb, and one by one stepped inside, fading away as they did.


	4. Robotnik's plan

_Well, got one review, lets go for more! Enjoy the next chapter. The story will start getting better from here._

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The band re materialized inside an odd looking facility. As the band members came intoRobotnik's base, the first thing that blew them away was the fact that they were now in some sort of cartoonish looking world. Everything just didn't seem as real as their world, like it was drawn in by some crazt hands.

As Sleet and the SWAT bots came through the portal behind them, Dingo, who was standing by the console, activated a switch and the portal began to close. The band watched, almost in horroras the doorway to their world faded away. Dingo walked away from the console and randomly approached Kirk.

"Can I have your autographs?" He said, in his less than intelligent tone.

While the band was again caught off guard by yet another strange creature, Dr. Robotnik walked into the room, a smile across his face. The first one to look up was James, whose eyes widened at the site of him.

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed. The rest of the band looked up.

"Ah yes, the earth band is here." Robotnik said, some excitement in his voice. James continued to stare in surprise, not sure what to make all of this.

"You must be…" He stammered.

Robotnik cut him off.

"Yes, no need for praise. I am of course, the great doctor…"

James blurted out his sentence.

"You must be the fattest fucker I think I've ever seen."

Robotnik was caught off guard.The rest of the band tried to contain their laughter. Even Sleet chuckled at the joke.The doctor'sface turned red with anger.

"I wouldn't insult me if I were you…Mr. Hetfield."

James shut up quick.

"How the hell did you know…?"

Robotnik smirked.

"Oh, I know a few things about your little band."

He motioned to each of the members.

"Kirk Hammet, your lead guitarist, Jason Newsted, your bass player, and of course, Lars Ulrich, your drummer."

The band glanced at each other. If this guy thought he had anything on them, he was wrong.That information didn't mean a thing. Who hasn't heard of them? But Robotnik continued.

"You are the band known on your planet as Metallica, and according to what we've gathered, you are the most popular band on your planet, and one of the most influential ever to come together."

"You flatter us, really." Jason said, sarcastically. "But can you skip to the part why the hell we're in this weird ass place?"

Robotnik glared at Jason, not saying a word to him. When he spoke, he spoke to everyone.

"You are here because you are needed for a special plan I have in mind..."

"What?" Kirk asked. "You need us to perform a few concerts for you?"

Robotnik smiled.

"And here I took you for a bunch of musical buffoons. You are exactly right, Mr. Hammet. The plan I have in mind involves your musical talents, as well as…"

Lars interrupted.

"Hey, you fat fuck, FYI, in case you forgot, we left our instruments back on our planet. We won't be doin' shit without things to play with. You should've thought before you grabed our asses and hauled us here."

Robotnik glanced angrily at him, but quickly cooled down and continued like nothing happened.

"Like I was saying, the plan will greatly involve your musical talents. For this, I have had my robots craft special instruments for you to perform with, so we wouldn't have to go through al the trouble of transporting your original eqipment."

He glanced at Lars.

"That clear it up for you, Mr. Ulrich?"

Lars didn't make any sort of reply. Robotnik nodded.

"Right then, on with the show."

He took out a remote and pressed a button, and suddenly a trap door opened next to the band, and out of it rose a stage like platform.

The guys stood in awe as gleaming new guitars stood before them, each one an exact copy of the ones theyused on earth. Behind this, a complete drum set stood waiting and ready, with all the symbols, as well as the double bass, configured to lars' exact preferences.

Robotnik laughed at the expressions on their faces.

"I had a feeling those would sway you a little.These were made based on your original instruments, but with a few improvements. Go ahead, try them out."

The guys walked up to the platform and went to their proper instruments. They were a perfect fit; everything was already adjusted where they needed to be. James was the first to say something.

"Hope you don't mind, but what exactly is the difference between these and what we normally play with?"

"That, Mr. Hetfield, lies within the instument. And it is the master part of the plan, besides you, of course."

As the rest of the band admired their instruments Robotnik continued.

"You see, inside the guitars and drums lie special chips. These are very sensitive, but emit high-energy signals each time you play a song. These signals can be coded into whatever I want them to be, and whatever I want the audience to really hear."

"Really hear?" James asked, quizzically.

"Why yes. I believe the term on your planet is called, subliminal messages."

The band looked up at Robotnik all at once.

"What kind of messages are you talking about here?" Kirk asked.

"Why, messages that will bring the entire population of Mobius under my control."

Everyone looked up, shocked. They knew now that this guy wasn't just a weird professor, but he had one big ass screw loose. They all slowly put down their instruments.

"Listen, pal," Jason said, "We ain't the band that puts that kind of shit into our music." Lars backed him up. "Yeah, go find some other fuckers to do this for you, cause we ain't doin' shit. You ain't taking over no world putting messages into our music."

Robotnik frowned and shook his head.

"I was afraid you'd say that. I didn't quite expect you'd take to the idea so quickly anyway."

He pressed another button on his remote, and almost instantly, SWAT bots surrounded the band.

"Perhaps you need some time in confinement to think this over."

He turned to the bots.

"Take them away."

The SWAT bots moved in and each grabbed a band member.

"I'll await your reply. Do think it over, Metallica. I wouldn't want to…force…the decision on you."

With that, the bots began dragging the band toward a large hallway at the far end of the room. When they were gone, Sleet looked up at Robotnik.

"Do you think they'll really come around, Doctor?"

Robotnik smiled evilly. "They don't have any choice."


	5. Tails delivers a mesage

_Thanks Sophia for the review. Don't worry, Dingo is in there. He'll pop up every now and then. Anyway, here's aNew chapter people. Enjoy and Please R&R._

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Meanwhile,In the city of Robotropolice, inside an underground base that was home to Sonic, Manic, and Sonia the Hedgehog, music was already playing. Loud music at that. 

In the living room of their base, the three hedgehogs played away, just jamming and rocking out. Manic was on his drum set, playing a hard but steady beat, while Sonia was sitting at her keyboard, playing a solo. Sonic played on his guitar, playing fast rock style music. There were no lyrics; they were just playing for the sake of having fun.

Sonic started moving about wildly as he flew into a solo of his own. Manic and Sonia smiled as they watched their brother. They continued to play on for a while, just enjoying themselves.

Outside the base entrance, a young fox ran up to the door. Though only eight years old,Miles "Tails" Prowerwas very smart, and many times, he and Sonic proved to be the brains whenever the group had an encounter with Robotnik's forces. Ashe approached, he heard the blaring of the music on the other side. Helost his footing once or twice asthe ground wasshaking from the vibrations, like a car's stereo on the highway.

"The guys must be getting ready for another concert," he thought.

He knocked anyway, cause what he had to say was urgent.

Sonia herd the door first,; even above all the noise, she had the best hearing. She stopped playing, and motioned to Manic to do the same. Manic took his hands way from the snare and took his foot of the pedal, killing the beat. But sonic kept playing, too much intohis soloto notice much else.

"Sonic…!"

Sonia yelled trying to get his attention.

"Hey Bro!" Manic yelled. Sonic just kept playing, jumping around wildly, as if he was in a heavy metal band.

Annoyed, Sonia walked over and unplugged the guitar from the amp. Sonic kept jamming away for a few seconds before he noticed that there was no more sound.

He looked up, confused, and then noticed Sonia and Manic staring at him, Sonia swinging the guitar plug around in her hand.

"Uh…what's up guys?" he said sheepishly.

Manic shakes his head. Sonia gives him a stern expression.

"Now that your little fantasy rock session's over, someone's knocking at our door."

Sonic put down his guitar and walked over to the door. He opened it to find Tails standing there, waiting patiently.

"Hey little buddy." Sonic said with a smile.

Tails returned the smile. "Hey Sonic!"

Manic and Sonia walked up behind their brother.

"What's up Tails?" They asked almost at the same time.

Tails wasted no time.

"Guys, I have something important to tell you!"

"What?"

"I was told to tell you guys that we've discovered another big plan of Robotnik's!"

"What kind of Plan?" Manic asked.

"Well...I'm not really sure. I just got word from one of the other Freedom Fighter groups near Robotnik's main base."

Sonic and his siblings glanced at each other, wondering what to make of it.

"Wait, Sonic said, "Ain't thatSally's group?"

Tails nodded.

"Good Old Sally. Her group always brings in the good stuff."

"Hey bro," Manic said, "didn't you used to be in her group before we came together?"

Before Sonic could reply, Sonia came up with an idea.

"Come on, I'll bet we can get something if we hack into Robotnik's data base."

Five minutes later, they were all standing around Sonia's laptop computer, looking through various files, all labeled Secret operations.

As they browsed the files, Sonia started shaking her head.

"These are all old projects. Stuff that we dealt with before."

Tails stared at the moniter.

"But I know that he's working on something. Why would something old be reported?" Tails asked, confused.

"Maybe Robotnik is running low on ideas." Manic said, sarcastically.

As Sonia continued to browse, she suddenly came on an unlabeled file.

"That's strange,"

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Well, this file isn't labeled. It's like it's just there."

"Well, click on it and let's see what's on it."

Sonia opened the file, and instantly, all this information appeared on the screen, along with various pictures. One of these pictures was the circular device that was Dr. Robotnik's inter-dimensional portal.

The three hedgehogs and Tails stared at the screen, Sonia reading off some of the key info.

"Project gateway. Plans to develop a fully functional inter dimensional device, capable of reaching other universes and dimensions different from our own."

While everyone else was silent, she skipped down a few lines.

"Early tests proved the device operational, and recent test succeeded in reaching opposite dimension."

Everyone soaked up the information. Tails was perhaps the most supprised.

"This must be what was reported." Tails said.

"Sounds new to me." Sonic replied.

"So…what exactly does it mean?"

Everyone stared at Manic for a moment. He was clearly lost on this.

"It means that Robotnik and his robots have made a device that can make contact with other dimensions and worlds."

Manic's expression still showed that he didn't get it. Sonia sighed.

"It means that he has the ability to take thinks from other dimensions and bring them to this world."

Manic's mind started to clear a little, but not enough.

"Okay, and this means…"

"It means that it would be very bad if Robotnik were to find the right kind of weapon."

"Oh."

There wasmore silence among them. But only for a moment.

"I say we go figure out what Robotnik's cooking up this time." Sonic said. "Come on."

With that, he darted out the door in a flash, nearly blowing Tails over.

Sonia and Manic shook their heads.

"He could at least wait to hear what we have to say."

"You know him. If it involves one of Robotnik's crazy plots, he's the first to be ready for it."

Sonia sighed. "Then I guess we'd better go after him. Find out about this ourselves."

The two hedgehogs agreed, then both got up and darted out the door. Tails just started spinning his twin tails, like a propeller, until he was hovering off the ground. Then he flew out the door after his friends.


	6. James Escapes

_Okay, word of warning here. This chapter is **long**. In fact, it came out much longer then I expected, so be prepared to do a little extra reading. But still, I hope you like it. And of course, plaese R&R_

* * *

Metallica had been locked in their prison cell for nearly two hours now. Everyone was either sitting on the bed or leaning on the wall, not knowing what to do. Not that there was much they could do. 

"You know," Kirk started, "Maybe where all just dreaming this. Maybe in a few minutes, we'll wake up back at the stadium and everything will be okay."

Everyone stared at him. James gave him the oddest look.

"What the fuck are you on?"

"Hey, just trying to be positive here."

"Take a look around, buddy." Jason said. He tapped the cartoonish looking brick wall, the impact making a very realistic thud.

"Face it, this as real as anything on our planet, weather you want to belive it or not"

At once, everyone sighed, knowing that it was true. There was really no way this was fake, no matter how much it looked so.

James looked up at the SWAT bot guarding the outside of the cell.

"As if it wasn't bad enough, fat ass found it necessary to put one of those mobile trash cans outside to make sure we don't do anything."

Lars shook his head.

"Fucking subliminal messages. This dude is crazy."

Everyone agreed. It seemed as though they would have to submit to that weird dude after all.

"You know what the worst of it is?" James said, "I still have to take a piss."

Everyone tunred, suprised.

"You've been holding it for this long?"

All James could do was nod. Kirk gave him an odd look

"God damn. You got a strong bladder."

Jason suddenly started laughing.

"Hey James, you think they got any water fountains around here?"

James shot him a pissed off glance.

"Shut the fuck up, dude. You try holding it for this long!"

Jason calmed down a little

"Hey, my bad dude. Just trying to liven it up a little."

While they were talking, Dingo wandered into the room and stood outside the cell. It didn't take long for the band to notice a creature like him. They didn't really look surprised, cause by now, they were used to seeing weird shit.

Lars walked up to the bars and stared down at Dingo.

"What the fuck do you want?"

Dingo just looked up at the band, apparently in awe.

"You guys are cool. Dr. Robotnik has made a good choice."

"Uh…Thanks."

"You guys play cool music. You know, I can play cool music to."

All the band members suddenly took on expressions of intrigue.

"What do you play?" Kirk asked.

Dingo smiled "A cool instrument."

As the band watched, Dingo stuck a hand into his pocket, looking for something. Jason turned to Lars.

"Not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?" Lars nodded.

Dingo smiled as he found what he was looking for.

"Here it is, guys!"

He suddenly whipped out a kazoo. All at once the band members raised an eyebrow as Dingo started playing a rather interesting version of _For Whom the Bell Tolls_. They didn't say anything, they just watched him play, amused at what they were hearing. Out of amusement, and a little sarcasm,Lars started banging on the wooden bedpost inside the cell, making a rough drumbeat to go with the song.

As Dingo finally a few minutes later finished up, the band stood there in amusement, and amazement over what they just heard. But yet the only person who really gave any applause was Jason, and they were out of sarcasm.

Kirk finally managed to say something. (Not that one could say much about that.)

"Well…That's gotta be the first kazoo solo I think I've ever heard...Not bad."

Dingo smiled.

"Gosh, thanks!"

He stuck the kazoo back in his pocket.

"Thanks guys, that was fun."

Jason smirked.

"Yeah, anytime, kid."

As Dingo turned and walked out the door, James stuck his hand between the bars, trying to get his attention.

"Hold it man."

In the cell, James winced from the pressure in his bladder. Jason noticed it and laughed again.

"Only person holding anything here is you, buddy."

James shot him another pissed off glance. "Shut it."

Outside, Dingo walked back in front of the cell.

"What is it?"

"Hey kid, you think you could maybe let me out of here for a minute? I really have to go."

Dingo looked confused.

"But Dr. Robotnik says you can't go anywhere."

James sighed.

"No. Go, as in, I really need to use the can right now."

Dingo looked around, more confused.

"But I don't think we have any cans in here."

James' face reddened a little in frustration. "The bathroom, dumb ass! I need to use the bathroom!"

Dingo's slow mind took a minute to register thr request.

"Oh…Okay, I'll take you there. But you have to come back here before Sleet or Dr. Robotnik finds out."

James shook his head.

"Yeah, Yeah, sure. Whatever. Just hurry the fuck up!"

Dingo walked over to the SWAT bot and took the set of keys out from around its arm. He walked over to the cell and unlocked the door. James steeped outside, but the SWAT bot moved up and made sure the other band members remained in the cell. The bot closed the door again as Dingo led James out of the room.

As the two walked down the hallway, Dingo started talkinghim to death.

"Is your world like this one? Do you like playing music? Do you make a lot of money? Do you travel a lot?"

This continued the whole way till they reached a restroom down the hall. James got more annoyed wit each statement.

"Do you think the Doctors plan will work? Do you think you guys can give us all autographs?"

Hefinally snapped. He got right in Dingo's face.

"Okay, listen. You want answers? Well here! Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Hell no, and No!"

James calmed down a little and regained his composure.

"That good enough for ya?"

Dingo was a tad shaken by James sudden outburst.

"Y…Yes sir." he stammered.

"Good. Now, if you'll just shut up and let me go to the bathroom, maybe, just maybe I'll get the rest of the band to give you an autograph or smething like that."

Dingo switched from scared to excited.

"Really?"

James sighed.

"Yes already. Now shut up and let me take a piss."

Dingo nodded and stepped aside as James went inside the bathroom. As he went in, he noted that the door actually swung both ways when pushed.

When he was inside, the first thing that threw him off was the size of the urinals. They were a good deal smaller than what he was used to. The stalls didn't seem all that comfortable either. But then, he figured theyweren't really built for human use.

"This is gonna be fucking interesting." He said to himself.

Outside, Dingo waited for James to finish. Five minutes later, the sound of the toilet flushing was heard. Dingo turned and knocked on the door.

"Hey, hurry up. We don't want to get caught by Dr. Robotnik."

Inside, James finished washing his hands in the small sinks when he noticed the knock. At first, he thought that he might as well go back to the cell, but he remembered something. Dingo had they keys to the cell.He figured that it would be fairly simple to get them from him, he just needed a plan.

He looked around for something; anything blunt to nail Dingo over the head with. But there was none. Everything that would have been useful was secured to whatever surface needed. He scratched his head, wondering what he was going to do.

As Dingo knocked again, James suddenly remembered the door. He smiled slyly as an idea came into his head.

"Oh, I'm coming, buddy. Just hang on."

He walked right in front of the door, and stepped back to get some distance.

Outside, Dingo still waited calmly. He heard footsteps from the other end of the doorway and walked right in front of the door.

"Finished, Mr.?"

There was no reply. He reached up to knock, but the second his hand touched the door, it suddenly flew open with tremendous force, smashing into Dingo and sending him flying the short distance into the wall at the other end of the hall. James smirked.

"Knew he was to dumb to stand back."

He walked over to a very dazed Dingo, who was sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall. He looked unconscious.He reached down and removed the keys from around his arm.

"Thanks chief."

He turned to leave, but he stopped, looking like he forgot something.

"Oh yeah, I did say I'dget you an autograph, didn't I. "

He walked back to Dingo and took a scrap piece of paper and a pen from his pocket. He quickly scribbled something down on it and then placed it right in Dingo's face, covering his eyes.

"There ya go," he said sarcasticaly, "Enjoy."

He then turned and ran down the hallway back to the cell.

The band members sat in the cell, still bored, when James rushed into the room holding the keys. Everyone else stood up in surprise.

Lars was the first to notice what his bandmate was holding.

"What the fuck…how'd you get those?"

James fumbled through the keys as he talked.

"Lets just say I knocked the dumbass _onto_ his ass."

When he though he had the right key, he inserted it into the lock. No good.

"Shit…" he said in frustration.

He tried the next one…still nothing.

As James was trying the keys, Sleet was walking through the hallway, apparently on his way to the restroom as well. When he rounded the corner, the first thing that caught his attention was the wide open door, and Dingo on the ground, out cold.

"Dingo? What the…"

Dingo remained on the floor, not able to respond. Sleet walked up to him, and he noticed the scrap paper on Dingo's face.

"What's this?"

As he read the message, his eyes widened in surprise, and then switched to pure frustration. The message on the paper read; 'Sweet dreams, sucker. James Hetfield'

Sleet crumpled the paper up in his hand. He quickly got up and walked to the other wall, where he pressed a red button on an intercom panel, instantly activating an alarm.

Inside the cell room, James was still having trouble with the keys when the alarm went off. Everyone looked up.

"I'm guessing that's not a good thing." Jason said.

Lars disregarded the alarm and turned back to James.

"Just keep trying the fucking keys!"

James tried yet another, but the door still didn't open.

Just when he went to get yet another key, a red laser suddenly shot the whole ring right out of his hand.

"Fuck!" he yelled as he held his hand, his fingers slightly singed.

Everyone turned and looked to the doorway. Standing there was three SWAT bots, lasers raised and aimed. Standing among them was Sleet, a look of frustration, and slight amusement on his face.

"I have to admit, Mr. Hefield," he said, "that you are pretty clever for a stupid musician. I think you deserve some credit for getting this far, but your little escape plan isn't going to work. So I recommend that you just go back into your cell, and we'll just forget this whole thing before anyone is harmed."

James looked at Sleet, then at the robots. It didn't seem like he had much a choice. He sighed.

"Okay shorty, you win..."

He slowly started putting his hands up, but he suddenly stopped midway. He looked up, a sarcastic grin on his face as he suddenly raised both his middle fingers.

"And there's your prize!"

Sleet was no fool. He knew what that sign meant.

"How dare you!" he said as he suddenly ran at James, who just reared back and kicked the little wolf clean across the room like a soccer ball, into the three SWAT bots, sending them tumbling out into the hallway, landing in a heap.

"Hope that felt good." James said. He tuned to pick up the keys, only to find them charred and disfigured from the laser hit.

"Shit"

The rest of the band looked on, knowing that that was perhaps the last hope.

"Hey guys, my bad. I'll try and find another way to get you out of there."

The other band members didn't show a sign of hope though.

"You know what," Kirk said, "Fuck it. Just you get the hell out of here before the shit heads get back up and kick your ass."

James couldn't understand it.

"But, what the fuck are you guys gonna do?"

The band didn't say anything for a moment, because they knew they weren't going to do anything.

"Don't fuckin' worry, dude," Lars said. "We'll be fine. Besides, the fat bastard can't do a damn thing to the rest of us cause he still needs us."

"Yeah," Jason said. "We'll try and stall as long as we fuckin' can. You just get your ass out of here."

James didn't know what to say. Here were guys that would sometime argue and be ready to tear each others heads off, and now they were more concerned with the safety of their lead singer rather ten their own. He decided to take the advice.

"Alright, fine. But I will be back with some help." Before the band could say anything, he turned and was out the door.

As he left, James noticed the SWAT bots lying in a pile against the wall. From underneath them,he could here Sleet pounding away on their metal frame.

"Get off of me, you tin cans!" came a muffled voice.

Hestared for a minute, then smiled slyly and kicked one of the robots, causing it to shift position and fall further. A muffled yell came from the pile.

"AHHH! My foot! Get off my foot!"

James smiled at his work, then turned ran down the hallway.

In his main operations room, Dr. Robotnik watched James run down the hallway on one of the security monitors. As he watched, he was infuriated at all James had done thus far, since he had seen almost everything.

"He's pretty smart for a rock band singer..."

Robotnik suddenly smirked and leaned back in his chair.

"Let's see just how durable he really is."

He turned to a control console and flipped a series of switches.

In the hallway, James kept running, and at the end of the hall, he saw a series of thick steel doors. His exit. He continued to head toward them, until suddenly, he was stopped as a series of red lights began flashing. He stood in the hall, knowing that more trouble was on the way.

"Damn, can't they make it easy for me?"

He looked back down the hall just in time to see a series of secret doors in the wall slide open. At first, nothing appeared to happen. James sighed in relief, but that quickly diminished when he looked back, only to see SWAT bots pouring out of each door.

"Aw fuck."

The robots began assembling in the hallway between James and freedom. As each robot turned and looked in his direction, he smiled sheepishly.

"Heh, hey fellas. Lets…uh…be cool now. Don't want anyone to be hurt…"

He stopped as they raised their weapons. His face went white with fear.

"…Or do you?"

He slowly started backing away, which soon escalated into a full run. The SWAT bot immediately gave pursuit, firing their weapons ashe tried to loose them.

As the chase went throughout the various hallways, Robotnik continued to watch, his expression one of pure amusement as James tried to dodge the robot's fire.

"Not so easy now, is it James?" He said, smiling evilly.

In the hallway, James was running out of options. He had already turned down several hallways, but all the robots were still on him. He thought that it would be over soon.

That is, until he found something that was not only out of place, but also very useful. A door a few feet ahead of him. He didn't know where it went to, and he didn't care. As long as it got him away from the robots. He turned the corner and opened the door, and the second he was inside, slammed it shut behind him. Outside, all the robots ran past the door, oblivious to the fact that whom they were chasing was right next to them.

In the small room, he couldn't see a thing. The first thing he did was look for a light switch. Finding it, he flipped it on, only to discover that he was inside a small, very cramped maintenance closet, surrounded by vacuums, brushes, mops, and other cleaning utensils. Helooked around surprised, then just shook his head.

"I guess even in this high tech place someone's gotta do the cleanup work."

Hestood there for a minute, looking around. He didn't want to risk going outside, because the robots might just be waiting by the door. But then, he didn't want to stand in a maintenance closet all day either. He glanced up and down the various shelves. This time something caught his attention. He moved over and began moving stuff away, to slowly reveal a large, dirty mirror.

"That's something you wouldn't normally find in here."

He thought. He looked into it, not really having anything come to mind right away. But the more he though, the more something began to come up. As the idea materialized, he smiled.

"Hell yeah."

On the monitors in his operations room, Robotnik watched as the robots moved past the door James had gone into. They had stopped just a few more feet down the hall, not moving, just rotating their heads in various directions, looking for their target. Robotnik scratched his head.

"Very clever, Mr. Hetfield. Very clever indeed."

He continued to watch for several minutes, nothing really happening, until he saw James slowly emerge from the room, something hidden behind his back.

"Ah, so you decided to give up. Wise choice."

He continued to watch, thinking James was going to surrender.

James stood in the hallway, but the robots seemed to not notice him. The object behind his back was kept hidden from their view.

"I hope this fuckin' works…" he thought to himself.

He took a deep breath and yelled out to the squad of SWAT bots.

"Hey, tin cans! Back here!"

All of them turned around slowly to face him. He raised his hand and gave them a motion to 'bring it on'. All the robots raised their weapons.He got whatever he had hidden behind his back ready.

All at once the robots fired. As the lasers zipped toward him, he suddenly whipped out the mirror from the closet. He held it high, and all the lasers impacted with its surface, and were reflected back at almost twice the speed.

The lasers began to ricochet off the walls, taking out one robot after the other. James dropped to the floor to stay clear, and watched at each robot fell to it's own fire.

The commotion continued for a good five minutes. When the laser shots died down, and the sound of mechanical devices was no longer heard, he slowly looked back up to see what went down. His eyes were met by a pile of about fifteen SWAT bots, all broken upwith deeplaser holes in them. James shook his head in approval of his work.

"Just like I thought."

He got up and dusted himself off.

"I knew watching Saturday morning cartoons would always come in handy some day."

He glanced over the pile for a minute, then turned and ran back in the direction he came.

In the control room, Robotnik slammed his fist against the console in frustration.

"Damn him! He's only been here one day and already he's caused just as much trouble as that stupid hedgehog!"

His eyes were now glued to the monitors, following James' every movement. When the camera switched to a different hallway, it was clear that James was heading back to the big exit doors. They were closed, so Robotnik thought he had nothing to worry about.

"Well, at least he isn't going anywhere."

In the hall,James ran right up to the door, just as it closed,and pounded on it with all his might, but it did nothing. They were sealed shut.

"Damn you!" He pounded away with his fist at the electronic lock.

"Why…won't…you…open!" He kept it up till his hand was sore. He sighed, knowing it was pointless, and gave up. But when he turned around, he was met with the barrel of a laser gun, like what the SWAT bots used only smaller. And holding it to him was a very battered and bruised Sleet.

"So…Mr. Hetfield…" He said in between breaths, "It would seem…that for a human…you are quite clever…"

"Yeah well, I try." he said, sarcastically. Sleet only raised the gun higher.

"Now, since it seems…that since you did cause so much trouble…you deserve to be destroyed."

Sleet stared him right in the eye, keeping the gun steady.

"But, you're lucky that Robotnik needs you. So…I'm willing to just take you back to your holding cell…and forget this all happened."

He stopped for a minute before going on, to catch his breath and gather his thoughts.

"However, I can't say the same for the doctor."

James stood there and pretended to think it over. He had made it this far, and there was no way in hell he was giving up now.

"Let me see," he said, clearly being sarcastic, "I think the words I'm looking for here are…lets see… Oh Yeah. Fuck, and, You. You like that?"

Sleet's anger got the better of him. He raised the gun and blindly fired a shot. But James was already expecting it, and he moved aside, allowing the laser shot to miss and hit the door panel. The door, now shorted out, slowly slid open. James turned to Sleet.

"Hey, look at that. Thanks man."

Sleet raised the gun again, but James brought his leg back, then let a kick loose, right into the wolf's crotch. Sleet quickly fell to the ground, in severe pain.

"Wow," James said, trying to contain his laughter, "Even cartoon animals have a little something down there."

He bent down and stared Sleet in the eye.

"Pleasure doing business with ya, chief." He said.

He stood back up and causally strolled out the door.

Outside the facility, James walked right into the colorful world that was Mobius. Everything still looked like a cartoon, but at this point it didn't surprise him. He was just tired and confused at this point.

"Where the fuck do I go now?"

He looked around in different directions, not sure what to do. He shrugged, and started walking in a random direction away from Robotnik's base.

On a hill, far from the base, Sonia, Sonic, Tails and Manic lay crouched on the ground, watching. Sonia had her laptop, and on it were images from Robotnik's security cameras. Sonic and Manic were surprised by what had took place in the base.

"You know," Sonic said, "I never saw a person who had the guts to do that to Sleet."

Manic shook his head.

"Talk about going _nuts_."

Sonic laughed. "After that, I don't think Sleet has any nuts." The two brothers laughed.

"Hey, guess he finally lost his _marbles._" Tails added. They all laughed harder.

Sonia was the only one being serious.

"Come on guys, focus. This is a big deal. I've never seen a species that looked like that anywhere on this planet. It's clearly something that involves Robotnik's Inter-Dimensional portal."

Manic looked again at the video.

"If that's all Robotnik could get, then that's a weak grab."

Sonia shook her head.

"It could have been a test. We don't know."

Sonic nodded.

"Well, maybe we should figure out where he's going and get him before he harms anyone."

Sonia shook her head.

"I don't think he hurts people for the sake of doing it. He just did all that in self-defense. He might be a good guy."

"Well," Manic said, "We won't know until we get to him. And by the looks of things, he's on the move."

They all looked in the distance to see James, now running from the base.

"Where could he possibly go?" Sonic asked.

"He wouldn't know this world. He'd get lost."

"Yeah, well if that's the case, he made a lucky choice."

They all turned to Tails.

"What do you mean?" Sonia asked.

"Well, if he keeps in that direction, he'll wind up in Robotropolice soon."

The hedgehogs looked at each other.

"Then we'd better get there first." Sonic said.


	7. A shocking meeting

_Okay, new chapter here. My best one so far, I think. Enjoy. Also, real quick, on a pesonal note, I'd like to thank everyone for the reveiws thus far. I'm glad to see you guys like it. Oh and Jaze, I'm taking your advice and appreciate you giving it. Thanks._

* * *

James reached the city about an hour later. To him, Robotropolice seemed justany big city on his world. Big buildings, flashing lights, the whole deal.But of course, there was the fact that he stood out like a sore thumb, being the only human on the streets. As he slowly walked down the sidewalk, glancing around at his surroundings, he could feel the eyes of the residents upon him. He didn't let it bother him, but deep down it was killing him. 

As he walked, the very next thing that came to his mind was how hungry he was. He never did eat lunch, and now he felt ready to eat a whole horse. He started looking around for places to eat. As he walked, the animals that were the city's residents kept giving him odd glances.

"Damn," he said to himself, "it's like I'm an alien to them"

And basically, that's exactly what he was. Him and the rest of the band still trapped in Robotnik's base.

After a good twenty minutes of searching, James came upon a little hot dog stand on the sidewalk. Though it wasn't really what he was in the mood for, he figured that it was probably all he was going to get.

"Better then nothing,"

He walked to the end of the short line. The vender, a small fox, looked up from his booth at his new customer. He gave James a quick glance over, not really caring what he looked like. So long as he made money, of course.

The rest of the people who were in line looked up, and when they saw where the vender was looking, slowly turned their heads behind them. Upon seeing James, one of the people, a young wolf it looked like, jumped back in surprise, a little frightened of the sight of a person about three feet taller than him.

As the cub hid his face, a larger wolf in front ofhim turned around.

"What's wrong son?" he asked.

Before he got an answer, he looked up at James, who when he realized what was going on, looked away, pretending not to notice.

"Hey buddy," the wolf said,

"what'd you do to my boy?"

James continued to look away, trying not to pay attention.

The wolf persisted.

"I asked you a question."

James sighed and looked down at the animals.

"Look pal," he responded, "I didn't do a damn thing to your son here. I'm just waiting here for something to eat, like the rest of you."

The wolf walked up to James and looked him right in the eye.

"Look here, what ever you are, I don't know where you're from, but around here we don't go around scaring other people's kids. So why don't you…"

James cut him off. He knelt down so he and the wolf were eye to eye. When he spoke, he made sure to keep his cool, so he wouldn't make a scene. But it was clear that the tone of his voice was higher then normal.

"Hey man, I said I didn't do a damn thing! So don't get in my face unless you're the one looking for trouble. Cause on the world I come from, people that do what you're doing are likely to get knocked out. So fuck off!"

The wolf was caught off guard. He didn't know how to respond. After a moment of glaring at James, he grabbed his son and they stepped out of line and headed down the sidewalk, young wolf looking back in surprise.

James got back to his feet. He noticed all the other animals in line as well as the vendor were all staring at him.

"What? Any of you got something to say?" Everyone quickly turned back to what they were doing. James shook his head.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

He took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure.

The line moved swiftly and soon James was at the booth. The vender looked up at him, still surprised from what happened a few minutes.

"Wh…what'll it be sir?"

James could tell the vender was a little scared, so he tried to reassure him.

"Look man, sorry about that shit earlier. I'm not gonna do anything to ya. It's just that I've been through a lot of shit in the past two hours, so I'm a little high strung at the moment."

The vender nodded in understanding, still a little shaken.

"Now then," James went on, "I'd like a plain hot dog with some mustard."

"Yes sir." The vender replied. He opened up the side of the booth and pulled out a hotdog already made the way James wanted it.

"Here ya go."

James took the hotdog with one hand, and then reached into his pocket for some change with the other.

"How much?"

The vender shook his head.

"You know what, just take it. On the house."

James was a little surprised.

"You sure?"

The vender nodded.

"Thanks," James said. He then turned and started walking down the sidewalk.

As he left, the fox breathed a sigh of relief.

Further down the block, Sonic, Manic, and Sonia were walking around, carefully looking through the crowds for any sign of James.

"A shame Tails had to run home," Sonia said."He would've liked to see this guy close up."

"You'd think we'd have seen him by now." Manic said.

"No," Sonic replied, "It's a big city. He could be anywhere."

Manic shook his head.

"Come on dude, he's the only one of his kind on this planet. I doubt he's that hard to miss."

As Sonic and Manic argued, Sonia kept scanning the crowd until she noticed something moving above the rest.

"Hey guys," she said, "I think I found him."

She pointed off down the street to a human in a black T-shirt and blue jeans, eating a hotdog. It was clearly James. He was standing a good two to threefeet above everyone else. Sonic was the first to react.

"Wow, he really does stand out."

"Told ya."

For a minute they watched him, seeing weather or not he was starting any problems. But he just kept walking.

"Looks like he hasn't been much trouble," Sonia said.

Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, but we'd better get to him just in case."

With that, they all started running down the street toward James.

As he walked, James finished his hotdog, and kept walking along, glancing around, checking out the city. He wasn't sure what he was going to do on his own, with the rest of the band still trapped. He knew he needed to find some kind of help. But the problem was, he wasn't sure where to look for it.

As he walked, he noticed something moving in the crowd that caught his attention. He tried to make it out among the crowd of animals, but it was only when there was a quick break that he saw what to him was now a horrifying sight. SWAT bots.

Sonic stopped in the middle of the road. Sonia and Manic seemed confused as to what he was doing.

"What's wrong bro?" Manic asked.

Sonic pointed at an intersection ahead of James.

"Look at that."

Manic and Sonia turned to look, and quickly saw the group of SWAT bots moving from an adjacent street, moving towards James.

"I'll bet Robotnik sent them," Sonic said.

Manic and Sonia agreed

"Probably wants him captured alive."

Sonic's expression became serious.

"Well, whatever the Doctor is planning isn't going to happen. Come on, guys!"

He started running towards James again.

The robots got tohim first. One grabbed his arm, while the other three surrounded him, making sure he wasn't going to escape.

"Target: Hetfield, James," The mechanical voice droned.

"Orders: To be taken alive at all costs."

It didn't take James a minute of thinking to know what was going on.

"You bastards ain't takin' me nowhere," he said, confidently. He stepped aside and swung the SWAT bot holding onto him into the others. On impact the robot released it's grip and he was off running in a flash.

"This is fucking great," he said to himself, "Just when you think you're safe, shit has to happen."

He turned a corner and ran down an alley between some buildings. Luckily, it took him right through to the other side, where he found himself on a new block. He looked around for the robots, but they weren't near.

He sighed.

"Better keep moving," he though, "Those things probably ain't done with me yet."

He turned and started walking quickly down the street. After a minute or so, he slowed to a normal walk, thinking he was safe. But when he came to another intersection, things went back down hill.

Three more SWAT bots suddenly came around the corner, catching James off guard. Before he could run the other way, they grabbed his shirt and yanked him to the ground. They made a tight triangle around him, this time making no mistakes. They didn't take any other action however, till the previous group of robots showed up to join them.

James knew he was in deep shit. He slowly stood up, looking around at the eight robots that were around him. He raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay fellas, you want me, you got me."

But the robots still didn't take any action.

"Hey," he said, "You got me, so why the hell are you standing around?"

While James stood there curious, a panel suddenly slid open on one of the robot's chests. Behind it, a little TV monitor flickered to life, slowly revealing the smiling face of Doctor Robotnik.

The doctor laughed when he saw the expression on James' face.

"Why Mr. Hetfield, you look to surprised to see me."

James nodded.

"You know, your right. Who else would send a bunch of walking garbage cans to capture me? I gotta admit, you're smarter then you look."

Robotnik took the sarcasm as a compliment.

"Why thank you. I'm flattered."

James wasn't done. A sly smirk crossed his face.

"Hey doc, you know, looking at you know compared to when I first met you, it seems like you've gotten bigger. I heard a camera takes off about ten pounds. Not adds them."

Robotnik's face went red with anger.

"You make all the jokes you want," he said, "but we'll see if you still have your little sense of humor when you get back here. SWAT bots, take him away!"

With that, he pressed a button off screen and the TV monitor shut off.

The robots finally came to life, and they began moving in on James, who was now looking around scared, with no where to go.

"Hey now," he said, "Let's be cool. I'll go quietly."

The robots didn't reply. As they got closer, one behind him grabbed his raised hands, yanking them behind his back. Another bent down and grabbedhis legs, and together, they raised him up and began carrying him down the street, James putting up very little resistance.

Just when it seemed to him like things were hopeless, a blue flash suddenly zipped right by them, quickly turning a corner at the end of the block. The robots stopped suddenly. For a minute, nothing seemed wrong, but then, the robot holding James' legs fell apart in a heap of broken metal. The one holding his hands soon followed, collapsing in a shower of sparks. James fell to the ground with a thud, now very confused.

"What the fuck was that?"

The other robots were moving their heads in every direction, trying to see what they were hit by, when suddenly, the blue flash roared by again, the wind nearly lifting James off the ground. It zipped back and forth past the SWAT bots, going so fast it madehim feel dizzy. When it finally passed again, all the SWAT bots were lying in piles on the ground, broken to bits.

James stood up and brushed himself off, looking around at the destruction before him.

"That was weird," he said, "Anyone wanna tell me what the fuck that was?"

As he looked around, his answer came as a voice sounded behind him.

"That would be me, sir," the person said.

James turned around, not knowing what to expect. And what he saw blew him away. In front of him stood a blue hedgehog, wearing red and white shoes and white gloves. James stood in shock.

"You…"

The hedgehog smiled.

"I know what you probably want to say, so, you're welcome."

The animal extended a hand.

"I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

James didn't know what to say or do. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. All he could do was extend a hand in return.

"I…I'm James Hetfield," he stammered.

While they were shaking hands, another voice sounded from around the corner.

"Did ya get them, Sonic?"

As James looked up, two more hedgehogs came around the corner and stood next to Sonic, both just as surprised to be standing in front of James. One was a pink female, the other a green male. James blinked, making sure he wasn't seeing things. These three, they were the hedgehogs from the cartoon show he saw in the tour bus.

Sonic noticed the expression on James' face and smiled.

"James," he said, "This is Sonia and Manic, my brother and sister. Guys, this is James Hetfield"

James nodded. Manic shook off the surprise and looked him over.

"Not from this planet, are you?" he asked.

James stood for a minute, and then finally shook his head clear.

"Uh, no. Not exactly"

The three hedgehogs nodded in understanding.

"If you don't mind my asking," James said, "Where _exactly_ am I?"

"There'll be plenty of time for questions later," Sonia said, "I think now we should take the opportunity and get you some lace safe before Robotnik sends more SWAT bots."

James looked down at the hedgehog, then around at the crowd. He figured that the animal was right. He wasn't up for another fight. "Sounds good, I guess."

The hedgehogs smiled.

"Good,"Sonic said, "Follow us then."

With that, the three turned and headed down the block. For a minute, James stood there, still trying to think about what exactly was happening. But he shook it off and followed the hedgehogs, hoping that they were really taking him to safety.


	8. Tricked

_Another night, another chapter. Enjoy, everyone._

* * *

Back atRobotnik's base, a few hours later, the rest of the band was still in their cell. They were now under heavier guard, Sleet and Dingo both standing with weapons ready. Sleet had his foot bandaged, while Dingo had a nice bruise large on his forehead. It seemed that he no longer found Metallica "cool." 

"So I guess James got out, huh?" Kirk said, smiling.

Sleet looked him right in the eye, pissed.

"Shut up, human. The rest of you are still here, and we're going to make sure it stays that way."

Lars got up and walked to the bars. He looked at Dingo, sarcasm in his eyes.

"Hey dumbass," he said, "why don't you entertain us with another kazoo solo?" Everyone broke out laughing.

Dingo's face went red with anger. He looked at Sleet, who gave him a nod. Then he took aim and fired his gun right at Lars' feet, missing by only inches.

"Fuck!" he shouted at the heat singed his shoes.

"The next one won't miss." Dingo said with authority.

While they were standing there, Dr. Robotnik entered the room, and very quietly, pulled up a chair and sat his large frame down in front of the band. Kirk and Jason stared, while Lars sat down and tended to his foot.

"What do you want with us now?" Jason asked. Robotnik's cold eyes just stared at him, anger in them.

"Want?" he said slowly, "What I wanted was for you all to cooperate with my plan. But it seems that when it comes to cooperating, you gentlemen can create a hell of a fuss."

Kirk stepped up to the bars and, being the calm and reasoning person he was, stared the doctor right back in the eye.

"We create a fuss?" he said, motioning his hand toward the others, "If I'm not mistaken, you captured us. You made a hell of a lot more fuss then we did, big guy."

Jason stepped up, backing up his band mate.

"He's right, fat ass, you can't say anything about us doing shit!"

Robotnik glared. He realized that the band had a point, but decided not to argue. He raised a hand to silence the band so he could talk.

"I'm not in the mood to play games with you this moment," he said. "I have been given enough grief from your lead singer, and I will not take any from you three!"

Kirk and Jason backed away from the bars, getting the point. Robotnik continued on.

"Now, it would seem that the plan with you which I originally had in mind has developed a problem. See, I had captured four of you, but it appears your lead singer has managed to work up the courage to escape."

Lars, still checking his foot, looked up, cutting the doctor off.

"Yeah, and you can bet that when he comes back, he'll have a whole shit load of help with him!"

Robotnik glanced at Lars.

"Mr. Ulrich, unless you wish to keep your foot the next time, I recommend you keep quiet!"

Lars glared, but he got the message and shut his mouth, going back to tending to his foot.

"Now then," Robotnik continued, "With your lead singer gone, it has come to mind that as a band, it would be rather hard for you to function as a band. Thus, it seems to me that you have now become a liability and are no longer needed."

He nodded to Sleet and Dingo, who raised their weapons, aimed at the guy's heads.

"It would be rather simple to accomplish, really; shoot you here, dispose of the evidence, and make it seem on your world as if an accident happened during a concert. And trust me, I am fully capable of making this happen."

He sat and stared at the bands now concerned faces; concern for their life. After a minute of letting them think about it, he chuckled and motioned for Sleet and Dingo to lower their weapons.

"Of course, I wouldn't want that. To kill someone as popular as you would be…out of character for me. So, in the interest of fairness, I have decided to let you go."

He pulled out his remote control and pressed another button. The cell door slowly slid open.

This surprised the guys. They glanced at each other, then at the open door. Lars and Jason got up and were ready to walk out, but Kirk stopped them, sensing that something was wrong. He glanced at the doctor.

"Wait a minute," he said, "A guy like you wouldn't just let a captive go. What's the catch?"

Robotnik grinned, pretending to be sincere. But it was clear to Kirkthat he was hiding something.

"Why, there is no catch. I just figured that my genius is better suited to other important things."

Kirk didn't buy that for a minute. His eyes narrowed.

"Okay, but answer me this. If you'll let us free, where are we supposed to go?"

Robotnik chuckled.

"Why, back to your world, of course. I have no intention of leaving you on a world you know nothing of."

At this point, Jason and Lars were getting anxious to leave. They tried to talk some sense into Kirk.

"Look man," Jason said, "He's letting us go. Why do you have a problem with that?"

Lars came up next to his band mate.

"Yeah, we got a fucking free ticket home. We shouldn't pass this up."

Kirk shook his head.

"You guys are thinking to much for yourselves and not enough for Metallica. Maybe you forgot that James is out there running around someplace. You want to just up and leave his ass here alone?"

Robotnik cleared his throat to get the band's attention.

"I assure you gentlemen that when Mr. Hetfield is found, he will be returned to your world as soon as possible."

This did get everyone's attention. Jason turned back to Kirk.

"See that? We got nothin' to worry about. Everything's cool." Lars nodded in agreement. Kirk just glared at Robotnik. He didn't trust him one bit. But yet, he couldn't really prove that the doctor was talking bullshit.

After a minute, he sighed.

"Okay doc, you win this one."

Ten minutes later, the three band members were standing in the room they had first entered, standing right in front of the inter-dimensional portal. Dr. Robotnik was at the console, making some final adjustments as the machine fired up. As it slowly came to life, he turned to the band.

"It will take some time to warm up."

Jason and Lars were still anxious to get going, but Kirk still felt as though something was wrong. He knew that the doctor was planning something, but he wasn't quite sure what.

Robotnik walked up to the guys.

"Before you leave, I decided to have my robots create a little something for you all, just to show that there's no hard feelings." He motioned for Sleet to walk forward. When he got there, he opened his hand, revealing three small pins, like what one would place on their shirt for a special occasion.

They were round, with a black center and a white border. In big bold white letters, METALLICA was spelled on the black part, while smaller letters in black spelled out 'We are the fucking greatest' on the white border. Each band member grabbed one and examined it.

"What the fuck are these for?"Lars asked.

Robotnik grinned.

"Why, they are simply a gift. Nothing more."

Each band member looked them over, and then with a look of, 'Why not', pined them to their shirts.

"Not bad," Kirk said. "Maybe you ain't all bad, doc."

Robotnik grinned slyly. It was obvious he had something planned.

Just when everyone was set, the portal finally materialized, the image forming of the interior of the stadium in their world, in the exact room they were taken from.

Kirk looked into his world as he stepped toward the portal.

"Well, all I got to say is, Good bye and good riddance."

He and the other band members started to walk toward the device, but just when they were about to step through, the portal suddenly dissipated. The band stood there confused.

"What the fuck?" Lars said.

"Come on! This is bull shit!" Jason exclaimed in frustration.

Kirk was the only one who seemed to know what happened. Instantly, he turned to Robotnik, who stood there with his finger on the 'emergency shut down' button on the console.

"What the fuck did you do?"

Robotnik smirked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my finger slipped," he said, sarcastically. He began to laugh.

Jason and Lars were pissed, but it was Jason who finally took action.

"You fucking piece of shit, I'll tear you apart!"

He rushed the doctor, but Robotnik quickly whipped out his remote and pressed yet another button. Instantly, the pin on Jason's shirt began to glow, and he stopped in his tracks, holding his head in agony. Robotnik laughed evilly.

"Whoops, I slipped again."

Kirk and Lars were shocked.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Lars asked, demandingly.

"Teaching him a lesson," the doctor responded coldly. "And it seems that the same needs to be done for you."

He pressed two more buttons, and the Pins on Kirk and Lars began to glow as well, and they two crumpled to the ground, caught in what felt to them like a train was running over their heads.

The doctor walked up and stood over the band. He glanced over each band member, and gave a look of false sympathy.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but you brought this upon yourselves."

Kirk looked up at the doctor, his head feeling like it was going to explode.

"What…the…hell…" he struggled, trying to fight the pain.

The doctor looked around once more, and then started talking.

"You see, when your lead singer escaped a few hours ago, I was stumped on how I was going to proceed with my plan. But then it hit me. I still had three good band members left, so I decided to hold on to them at all costs. I had my robots create the pins, which you now have on, and while they may look nice on the outside, inside, they are composed of microscopic networks. These networks emit energy waves directly to the brain of the person wearing the pin, blocking and disrupting the brain's patterns and leaving the person more or less lifeless. This then leaves said person open to, suggestion, shall we say, allowing me to send my own commands to the brain, making them able to do whatever I command."

The band members continued to struggle as the doctor continued.

"Of course, the first few moments, there is sever pain as the normal brain patters are disrupted and blocked, but it shall soon subside. Soon, I will be the only one running Metallica."

Kirk looked up at the doctor one last time.

"You…Bastard…" he managed to blurt out. Then, his face fell to the floor. He had blacked out. And it appeared the rest of the band followed.

Robotnik waited a few minutes, and then glanced down at his remote. All three buttons he had pressed were now flashing green. He smiled evilly.

"It's done. Stand up, gentlemen."

The band suddenly came back to life, slowly pulling themselves to their feet. They all stood next to each other, perfectly straight, like a solider at attention. Their eyes stared off into space, their faces drawn and expressionless. They had no more control over their bodies.

Robotnik pressed a button on the remote, and the trap door from earlier opened, and up came the stage of instruments.

"Now gentlemen, take your appropriate instruments, and play…oh I don't know…Master of puppets."

The bans members all looked up at once. "Yes, Doctor Robotnik," they droned. They now sounded and acted more like robots then humans.

They all turned and walked up to their guitars, Lars to his drums. Kirk's voice droned out a beat. "One, two, three, four," and with a quick start, they went right into the opening riff.

Sleet walked up to Dr. Robotnik as they played.

"Sir, shouldn't we leave? What about the subliminal message chips?"

Robotnik glanced down at his assistant.

"Relax, my little friend. The chips can't be activated unless I do so. Right now, those are just normal instruments."

Sleet nodded in understanding, but then he noticed another thing.

"Doctor, you are aware that the songs won't sound right without the Lead singer and his extra guitar playing?"

Robotnik glanced at the empty spot where James would have been standing. The guitar was still sitting in its stand.

"Hmm, I see your point, but fear not, I do have yet another plan that should solve that."

He grinned evilly.

"If you can't get the original, make another."


	9. Explanations and thoughts

_Okay, this chapter is slower then the others, but it is a necessary part of the story. It's basically James finding out more about the hedgehogs and the hedgehogs finding out more about James. Things should get more interesting in the next few chapters. Enjoy and thanks again for the continued reviews._

* * *

In the city, Sonic and co. had arrived back at their little underground base. To them, it was home sweet home, but for James, who had to keep his head low to avoid smashing into the ceiling, it felt like walking around in a shoebox. 

In the living room, everyone was settled in, Manic was playing video games, while Sonia was at her keyboard and practiced a few songs.

Sonic walked in from the kitchen, carrying with him a can of soda. He handed it to James.

"Here ya go."

James nodded a thank you, and then quickly opened it and drank half of it in one shot.

Sonic looked a little surprised, but he just smiled about it. "Guess people like you can develop quite a thirst."

James shook his head.

"Man, you have no idea."

He downed the rest of the drink, and swiftly crushed the can on his forehead. He took aim and threw the crushed tin into the kitchen, landing perfectly in the trash bin.

Manic looked up from his game at the site of that. He laughed.

"Hey, he shoots better then you do."

Sonic glanced at him. "Yeah, very funny."

James chuckled at the two brothers sarcasm toward each other. Reminded him of him and Lars during their child hood. But it also made him remember that the rest of his band was still trapped in Prison. But he didn't want to dwell on that thought at the moment. He shook his head and tried to clear it away.

He walked over and carefully sat down on the armrest of the couch, making a makeshift seat. He glanced around at the hedgehogs

"By the way, I just wanted to say thanks for saving my ass up there earlier."

"It was really no problem," Sonic said. "It's what we do."

"That's right," Sonia said, looking up from her keyboard.

"We're the group that keeps things at peace up there. Us and the rest of the Freedom Fighters."

James cocked his head, confused.

"Freedom Fighters? What's that, like some kind of resistance?"

"That's exactly what it is," Sonic said. "We fight for freedom of all Mobians against the evil empire of Doctor Robotnik."

James got slightly enraged at the name of Robotnik, but he kept it inside.

"Empire? You mean this guys controls this place?"

"Not just this place, most of the planet. But we get more people joining our side every day. The stronger the Freedom Fighters get, the more we can kick Robotnik's but!"

Manic looked up from his video game, smiling. "Right on, Bro!"

James scratched his head.

"Okay, I get that. But who are Mobians? That's what the people on this world are called?"

Sonic put on a sarcastic grin. "Well duh! The planet is called Mobius."

Everyone got a quick laugh.

Sonia walked up and sat on the couch next to James.

"So…James, right? Why don't you tell us something about where you come from."

Manic looked up from his video game.

"Yeah, let's here something about you."

He put down his controller and moved up to the others, sitting on the floor in front of James. Sonic sat up in his chair. All three were ready to listen.

James looked around at his audience. He figured that it'd be only fair to answer their questions, since they answered some of his.

"Well," he started, "I come from a world called Earth. It's a place that you could say is a lot like this planet, only humans are the dominant force, not animals."

Manic smirked.

"Humans? Is that what the people on your world are called?" He was mocking James earlier statement. Sonic and Sonia laughed a little. "Very funny" James said.

Sonia got herself back under control.

"Okay, animals don't run the planet, but do they still exist on your world?"

James nodded. "Yeah, but the thing is, they can't talk or stand on their feet or do stuff like humans can. Or you guys for that matter. The animals on our world run wild in their own habitats. And no, they don't live in big cities or little houses."

The hedgehogs were surprised yet amazed to be hearing this.

"Who controls your world?" Sonia asked.

"Really, the planet is divided into seven continents, each broken up into lots of countries. Each country has it's own government."

"Does that mean things are always at peace?" Sonic asked.

"No," James said, "Unfortunately, some governments don't really see eye to eye. Our history is full of wars and stuff like that. But we try to let different countries deal with their problems on their own. To each his own, you know?"

The hedgehogs nodded in understanding. For a minute, no one spoke. But Sonia was still curious, so she finally gave another question.

"James, are you the only one that Robotnik brought to this world?"

James looked up. He wasn't really in the mood to talk about that subject, but it was brought up, and if he didn't answer it now, they'd probably pester him about it later. He took a deep breath.

"Well…no. Actually, He sucked me and three of my friends here as well."

"Your friends?"

"Yeah. And they're still locked up at the bastard's base. I wish I could've gotten them out, but I was lucky to make it myself."

"That's sad," Sonia said with genuine sympathy.

"Must suck knowing that a madman's got your friends trapped in a prison cell," Manic added."

James looked off into space for a minute.

"Yeah, it does. And if I had the help, I'd go back there and get em' out so we cold get back to our world."

There was a brief silence. James finally broke his gaze and looked away. It was clear he didn't want to go any further into that topic. And who could blame him?

After a minute, James let out a yawn. He didn't know what time it was, since he had forgotten to put his watch on before being captured. But what he did know was that after a day like today, he was tired.

He slowly stood up, being mindful of the ceiling.

"Say, you guys wouldn't happen to have a place where I can sleep for the night do ya? Like a guest room?"

The hedgehogs looked at each other, then back to James.

"Yeah," Sonic said, pointing down a hallway at the end of the room, "We have a room at the end of that hallway. Make yourself at home."

James nodded.

"Thanks."

He slowly turned and walked toward the hallway, keeping his head low the whole way.

When he reached the room, the first thing he noticed was how small the bed was. The headboard didn't even go up to his shoulders.

"Just great. There's more room in my fucking shoe then there is in there." But then, he remembered that noting in the base wasn't built for humans.

He looked around for some alternate means, and he noticed that the floor had a whole lot of space.

"Better then nothing."

He went up to the bed and pulled the small blanket and pillow off, then carefully lied down on the floor and tried to make himself comfortable.

"It's going to be a long night," he said to himself.

Back in the living room, the three hedgehogs were talking about James, keeping it low enough so that he wouldn't hear.

"I think it's pretty cool to have a person from a another world sleeping in our base," Sonic said. Manic nodded.

"Yeah, but how can you be sure that he's not tricking us? For all we know, he could be under Robotnik's control take us right to him."

Sonia shook her head. "I doubt that. He wouldn't have destroyed fifteen SWAT bots and kicked Sleet in the 'zone' if he were working for Robotnik."

Manic looked away.

"Just being cautious,"

Sonic jumped off his chair.

"Sonia's right. He just wants to get his friends and go back to his world. And I think that we should help him with that."

"Why?" Manic said. "He said himself, on his world, they let people deal with there own problems."

Sonia smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" he said as a bump appeared.

"You forget that we're not on his world. We're on ours. We told him that the Freedom Fighters fight for all good on Mobius. I think that as long as he's here, we should help him."

Sonic agreed. "Yeah. It's our duty as Freedom Fighters!"

Manic glanced at his brother and sister. He felt the bump on the back of his head, and sighed.

"Okay guys, I guess you're right. I'm in."

The group came together and gave each other high fives. Manic smiled. "Besides, it'll give us a chance to ruin another one of Robotnik's sorry plans."


	10. A special guitar lesson

**_DISCLAIMER:_** **_For the record, I don't own the song Fuel. It's Metallica's song, and all lyrics were written by them. As well as the melody to The thing that should not be._****_

* * *

_**

_Authors Note: Another long chapter. I just had fun with this one. First off, I did say Tails would have a part eventually, and I'm introducing it here. Also, and this is all I'll say, This is a preview for what's gonna go on in one of the final chapters. Enjoy._

_

* * *

_Sonic awoke to the sound of music. He glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was about 10:00 AM, a little later then when he usually woke up. The blue hedgehog jumped out of bed, and slowly walked over to the door to listen to what was going on. Someone was playing his guitar. 

He slowly walked outside into the living room, and what he saw surprised him. James was sitting on the couch, (As best he could due to the smaller size) playing a steady, good heavy rock beat.

Manic and Sonia sat on the floor in front of him, amazed by his playing. As James finished up the song, he smiled.

"That was a song we did a few years ago called _The thing that should not be_. I think it's one of our cooler ones."

He looked up and noticed Sonic.

"Hey chief. Nice to see you up. Hope you don't mind, but When I go up I noticed your guitar and figured I'd play a few tunes."

He noted the hedgehog's tired look.

"I didn't wake ya, did I?"

Manic smirked.

"You didn't wake him up. He always looks like that in the morning."

Sonic glanced at his brother and returned the smirk.

"You want me to tell him what you looked like when you woke up last April fools day?"

Manic's smirk went away, and he quickly shut up.

"That's what I thought."

Sonia turned around to her brother.

"Sonic, you should hear some of the stuff James can play!"

Manic joined in.

"Yeah bro. This guy's part of band on his world."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

James laughed. "Yeah. Guess I was so tired yesterday I forgot to mention it."

"Are you guys popular on you world?" Manic asked.

"Oh yeah. We're a big deal on Earth. One of the most popular bands, actually."

Sonic joined the rest of the group, interested.

"What are you guys called?"

"We're called Metallica. We've been around for quite a while, actually."

He did a quick tune on the guitar. "I play the rythmguitar, and I'm the singer."

All this amazed the three hedgehogs. James noticed their expressions and smiled.

"You know, I'd say we're not that much different from you band, except for the fact that we have four members instead of three."

Sonic was surprised. "How do you know we have a band?"

James sighed and looked around, the room, motioning to all instruments; Manic's drums, Sonia's keyboard, etc…

"Wasn't really that hard to figure out with al this stuff lying around."

He paused, thinking about how they were going to take the next statement.

"And also, on my planet, you guys happen to be part of a pretty big cartoon show."

The hedgehogs reacted. They all looked at each other, confused. James figured that would be there reaction. "A TV show?" Sonic asked.

James nodded.

"Yeah, it's called…damn what was that name…my kid watches it. It's uh, Oh yeah, Sonic Underground."

The confusion seemed to lift slightly. Manic grinned.

"You here that guys? We're famous on his world!"

James smiled at the outburst.

"Yeah, you could say that. On the show, you guys apparently play some songs every now and then. I've seen you guys play myself, and I gotta say, quite impressive. For animals, of course."

The hedgehogs nodded in appreciation.

"Thanks. That means something coming from a big time guy like you."

"Don't mention it."

Sonic was happy to hear about there apparent notoriety on another world, but he remembered James talking about the band and had a question.

"Say James," he said, "Where's the rest of your band?"

James's expression drained a little. He seemed less excited. But he was willing to talk about it as oppose to last night. "Unfortunately, the rest of the band are those friends I was telling you about who are locked up in that Robonik guys base. He captured us cause he said he had a plan that he was gonna use our music for."

"What kind of plan?" Sonic asked, now curious again.

James looked down at the guitar.

"He wants to try and control the planet through subliminal messages in music."

Sonia gasped. "That sounds horrible!"

Sonic looked up.

"It sounds like something he'd try to use us for. But he grabbed you…" He stopped as he noticed James staring at him. He decided it was a good time to say it, so he did.

"James, last night we all agreed that we'd help you get you friends out of Robotnik's hands. And if it includes destroying whatever project he has planned, we'd be glad to help. Just thought I'd mention that."

James looked up and smiled.

"I appreciate that. Thanks." He stopped and thought about what he just said.

_"Did I just agree to be helped by cartoon characters?"_ He scratched his head, and then shrugged.

_"Oh well."_

A about a minute later, a knock was heard on the door. Everyone looked up, but only Sonic seemed to know ho it was. He walked over and opened the door, to find none other then Tails standing in the doorway.

"Hi Sonic." The orange fox said with a smile.

Sonic smiled. "What's up buddy? Here for your lessons?"

Tails nodded.

"Who is it, Sonic?" Manic yelled.

"Just Tails here for his lessons!" Sonic stepped aside to let the fox in.

In the living Room, James saw Tails first, and noted the fact that the little fox was carrying a pretty big guitar case. When Tails noticed James, his expression shifted into shock.

"Sonic...is that...?"

Sonic nodded

Sonic laughed at his friend's reaction. "Tails, I'd like you to meet James Hetfield.The human from another world called Earth."

James nodded. "What's up, man?"

Tails just stared at the human, his ten-year-old mind toosuprised to allow him to react.

"It's amazing...You'are actually from another world?"

James nodded again. "You know it, dude."

The fox seemed to be in a mix of excitement and shock. James could sense it, so he tried to sound reassuring.

"Hey man, you can chill. Hell, I can understand you're surprised. When I first got here, imagine how I felt when I met you friends."

Tails slowly nodded in understanding. Sonic decided to take over,

"James, Tails is here for some guitar lessons. Hope you don't mind."

James shook his head. "Hell no, dude. In fact, I'd like to see this. What's he learning?"

"I'm learning the bass." Tails said as he placed his guitar case on the floor and opened it up. He bent down to remove the guitar. It wasn't fancy, it was just an average bass, like any beginner would use.

James nodded. "Not bad, kid."

He looked to Sonic.

"He gonna be joining your band?"

"Well, We were thinking about getting a bass player. Never thought of Tails, though."

James nodded as Tails plugged hiss guitar into an amp in the corner of the room.

"Sonic, how do you tune this again?"

Sonic walked over, and James watched as Sonic helped him retune the guitar. He turned to Sonia and Manic.

"So, what does he know how to play?"

"Oh, Sonic's just been teaching him simple little tunes and stuff like that. He's actually gotten really good, but Sonic still thinks they need to practice more."

Manic agreed. "Yeah, it's a shame. I've really wanted to see that kid in action with some real music."

For a minute there was silence. Everyone watched as Tails started playing a few note, with Sonic sitting close by observing.

Suddenly, Manic had an idea. He turned to James, who after a minute, realized he was being looked at.

"What?"

Manic grinned.

"Hey, how about you start playing one of the songs by your band. You know, start a riff, and Tails can play along on the bass."

James took on a surprised expression.

"One of our songs?"

Manic nodded.

James shook his head. "Oh no. I don't think he's ready for that kind of playing. He won't be able to keep up."

Sonia now joined in, with a smile on her face.

"Come on. It'll show us what Tails can really do. Besides, I want to hear another song by you."

Before James could really protest, Sonia motioned to Sonic and Tails.

"Hey guys, James has an idea!"

Tails and Sonic looked up at James, who was sitting there with a surprised look, motioning For Sonia to keep quiet. "What is it?" Sonic asked.

Sonia smiled again. "James thinks that maybe he should play one of his bands songs, that way Tails can play along and see how good he is."

Tails looked up, confused.

"His band? He has one to?"

Sonic nodded. "Yup. Guess I forgot to tell you. On his world, James is part of a popular band to. They're like an Earth version of us."

Tails glanced over at James. He was still getting over the fact that he was looking at a creature from another world.

"Well…I…I guess I could try one of his songs."

The three hedgehogs smiled.

"Al right! Cool!"

James shook his head. He was volunteered into it now, and he had a feeling that Sonia wouldn't let him back out of it.

"Uh…why not," he said. "One song won't kill him."

He slowly got up and walked to the center of the living room, shooting Sonia an angry glance when he passed. She replied with a sly smirk.

As James stood adjusting Sonic's guitar to his standards, he motioned for Tails to come stand next to him. The orange and white fox grabbed his guitar and amp and slowly came over.

Once he was all set up, James looked down to him.

"Okay…Tails right? I'm gonna start playing a pretty fast song here. It's not like the stuff Sonic's probably teaching you. It's gonna be pure rock music. Think you can handle that?"

The fox nodded. "Okay then," James said, "Here we go. I'llmotion to you when the bass comes in."

James started playing the opening riff to the song _Fuel_. He wasn't singing, just playing it for Tails to practice. Once he got to the point where the main song started, he motioned to Tails, who began playing the riff on the bass.

For a minute they played together, but James almost immediately noticed that something didn't quite sound right. He stopped, signaling for Tails to do the same.

"Something isn't right." James said. "One of us isn't playing right, and it isn't me."

While the hedgehogs looked on in confusion, James turned to Tails, seeing if he was doing something wrong. And he found that was exactly the problem.

"I see what's wrong here," he said. He knelt down and motioned to the guitar. "You're holding it wrong."

Tails cocked his head in confusion.

"How am I holding it wrong?"

James pointed to the way his hands were.

"You're trying to play it like a normal guitar. A bass isn't meant to be played that way."

He moved up and helped Tails re-adjust his hands.

"First, your left hand is to low on the fret board. It needs to be up higher, towards the top of the guitar. Like this."

He moved Tails' hand up so it was almost to the top of the fret board.

"Also, try moving your right hand down an inch." Tails did so.

James stepped back made sure everything looked right.

"Now doesn't that feel more comfortable?"

Tails stood, getting used to the new posture.

"Yeah, it sort of does," the fox said. "Thanks!"

James nodded. "No problem. There's just one more thing." He bent down and took the pick away from Tails. He threw it to a corner of the room.

"When a bass is played, people normally play it with their fingers. Try it."

Tails plucked a few notes. It sounded much better then before; the notes being more low and heavy sounding. Tails smiled, as well as Sonic and the others at the improvement.

"Much better."

He stood back up, and got ready to play again.

"Okay, Let's try again.You ready?"

Tails looked up with a smile.

"Ready!"

Just as they were about to play, Manic suddenly jumped up. "Hey, maybe it would be even better if you guys had a drum beat to go with the song. You know, make it sound better."

James raised an eyebrow. "We're just practicing here. You really think you can keep up with this song anyway?"

"Worth a shot,"

James sighed. "Okay, dude. Get on the set, and we'll see how it goes."

Manic grinned as he walked over and sat down at his drum set.

"Everyone ready?" He looked around and saw that everyone was. He turned to Manic. "Okay drummer boy, give us a beat."

Manic nodded, and then grabbed his drumsticks and gave a quick bet on one of the symbols. James went into the riff for Fuel again. But when the song got going, Tails started playing, but Manic started going crazy, making up his own beat for the song.

James glanced behind him at the green hedgehog. James was at first annoyed at the way it sounded, being so used to the way Lars played it, but once he let it sink in, it seemed to strangely fit the song. After a minute, he got used to it enough not to let it bother him and turned his attention back to his own playing.

But the more they played; the more Sonia and Sonic began to enjoy it. Without saying anything, Sonia suddenly got up and ran to her keyboard, and suddenly stared playing an altered version of the main riff.

James looked up. This time, he was really annoyed. She was playing it well, but she was off time. He tried not to let it bother him, but after another minute, he just couldn't bear it. He stopped and signaled everyone else to do so.

"Okay," he said, "If you all want to do this, we need some organization!" He turned to Tails.

"You played good buddy. I want you to start the opening riff on the bass."

He turned to Sonia.

"You. This time, you'll start playing when I point to you. Just play what you just were and try to stay in time."

And last, to Manic.

"When I point to you, just get on that beat. And yeah, just play like you were. I kinda liked your version." The hedgehogs nodded.

But before James started again, he noticed Sonic sitting by himself. Though he was just watching, it was obvious he wanted to play.

"Hey Sonic, you got an extra guitar or something? We might as well get you in here to."

Sonic smiled. "Just a sec." He ran off down the hallway. In about a minute, he was back, this time holding a black Flying V guitar. James was wide eyed at the sight. It was just like the one he played with on stage.

"Hey buddy," he said, "That's a nice one. Mind if we trade?"

Sonic smiled.

"Not at all."

He walked up and the two carefully swapped guitars. Once they were both comfortable with the instruments, James looked around again to make sure everyone was ready.

He pointed to Manic, who started the beat on the symbol. After a minute, he pointed to Tails, who started the opening riff. At almost the same time, he motioned for Sonic and Sonia to join. James held off, letting this 'improvised' version of Fuel get into his system.

He started tapping his foot to the beat, and soon he actually started head banging. But once he relized what he was doing, he snapped out of his trance, and quickly motioned for everyone to stop.

Everyone stared at him in confusion. "Something still doesn't sound right." James said. Sonic scratched his head. "Well, we're all playing normally. What could it be now?"

James glanced around at each animal. He could tell that they were annoyed at him stopping the song again. "Well," he started, "I don't really know. I guess the only thing I have to say is..." He paused, glancing at Sonic. The hedgehog seemed to get the messeage and smiled.

James shook his head. "All I have to say is..."

_Give Fuel, Give me Fire, Give me that which I desire!_

Sonic went into the intro riff. Everyone seemed to get it now. The main part of the song kicked in, they all went wildlyback into a song that most of them stilldidn't know. Manic played that crazy, heavy drumbeat, Sonic and Sonia were playing the main riff on guitar and keyboard, while James and Tails played the backup riff. It was an awesome sight.

James grinned as he went into the lyrics.

_Turn on, I see red_

_Adrenaline crash and crack my head_

_Nitro junkie, paint me dead,_

_When I see red_

_A hundred plus through black and white_

_Warhorse, Warhead,_

_Fuck 'em man, White knuckle tight_

_Through black and white._

James looked around. Everyone was into the song, playing it well. He was impressed. He sang the chorus, and to his Surprise, Sonia and Sonic started singing along.

_Oh, On I burn,_

_Fuel is pumping engines,_

_Burning hard, loose, and clean,_

_On I burn,_

_Turning my direction,_

_Quench my thirst, with gasoline_

He pointed to Sonic, who seemed to know exactly what to say. The hedgehog smiled as he sang.

_So Give me Fuel, Give me Fire, Give me that which I Desire!_

As the song calmed down for a minute, James nodded in approval at Sonic, who returned the nod. Then the song picked back up gain, back to the heaviness it was. "They ain't Metallica," James though, "but they're damn close."

They continued to play, as Sonic went into a wild solo. James laughed as he to went into a solo backing Sonic's. It was now a Fuel jam session, each person playing adding their own crazy touch to the song.

Andthroughout all this, James actually was enjoying himself. He actually felt more like a kid, playing with these cartoon characters. And to him, it felt good. For that brief moment, he didn't want to return to his world. He didn't care. This was something new. It's what he wanted.


	11. Preparing for a debut concert

_Okay, sorry for not updating in a few days. Was on a trip with the family. But I'm back, and the time off gave me some neat ideas for finishing the story. But I'm not that far up yet, so untill then, here's a fresh chapter to hold you over. If anyone noticed, I hinted at this a few chapters back, and now it's time to show the full thing. Enjoy and remember to R&R. Thanks._

* * *

Robotnik sat and grinned evilly as he watched Metallica play. The band was still under his control; they just stood there, no emotion, no movement except their hands playing their instruments. They were basically Zombies. 

Master of Puppets was the song they were playing, since Robotnik had chose that to be the song they were going to carry out his plan with. "It just sounds so fitting," he thought as he watched.

At that moment, Sleet entered the room and swiftly walked up to Robotnik. It took the doctor a minute to realize he wasn't alone. He broke his gaze and turned to his assistant. "What do you want?" he asked, slightly frustrated.

Sleet glanced at the band for a moment, then back to the doctor. "Sir, he's ready. You may bring him out whenever you wish."

Robotnik grinned. "The singer is complete then, huh? Excellent!" He turned to the band. "Gentlemen, stop playing, I have some important news for you!"

Metallica suddenly stopped playing, right in the middle of a fast part of the song. They stood perfectly still, Jason and Kirk holding their guitars in the same spots, while Lars held his drumsticks on the crash symbol and snare drum. All at once, they all turned their heads to the doctor.

"Gentlemen, I have someone here I'd like you all to meet." He motioned to Sleet, who walked over to a console and pressed a button. Next to the band, another trap door opened, and out of it a platform slowly rose.

On that platform was a figure. He had his back turned to the band, but from what could be seen, he was wearing a black T-shirt and dark blue jeans, same as James Hetfield.

Robotnik grinned "It took me a few days to complete him, but I think that it will be well worth al the effort. Gentlemen, meet your new signer." He took out his remote out and pressed another button. The figure on the platform came to life. He slowly turned to face the band.

The figure was now all too familiar. It was James Hetfield. An exact copy, right down to the beard and short hair.

Robotnik nodded at his creation. "Gentlemen, meet the Hetfield 1000, a near exact replica of your lead singer, constructed with the best of my robot technology." He faced the robot of James. "Hetfield 1000, say hello to your fellow band mates."

The robot looked up. His eyes, though they looked human, glowed red with a mechanical light. "Greeting, band mates." He said. It was James voice, but the mechanical drone in it was clearly noticeable.

"Hetfield 1000 has every song you have ever recorded in his database, from your old stuff to things you have yet to release. He's fully capable of replacing the original James Hetfield. And, dare I say, is better then the original." Robotnik smiled evilly. "But don't take my word for it. Let's see how he fares in an actual performance."

He turned to the robot, just standing there, the same blank look as the rest of the band. "Hetfield 1000, access database. Album: Mater of Puppets. Track: two. Song: Master of Puppets."

The robot suddenly looked off into spaces, it's eyes rapidly moving back and forth. After a moment, he looked back in the direction he was before. "Data found. Awaiting instructions to proceed."

Robotnik grinned. "Pick up your guitar and begin playing when I give the order."

The robot walked over to the small stage area where the rest of the band stood and picked up the black Flying V guitar that up till then had been sitting in a stool in the center of the stage. Once everything looked situated, Robotnik gave the order. "Okay boys, now that you're a full band again, let's take it from the top. Begin Master of Puppets."

The band stood staring straight ahead now, their blank expressions staring off into space. "Acknowledged. Song: Master of Puppets," the Hetfield 1000 droned.

With the same expressionless movement, he began the opening riff to the song. The rest of the band jumped in at the appropriate points. Robotnik grinned and turned to Sleet. "I think that this plan might actually work," he said. Sleet glanced at band again. "Yes sir, I agree. You may have actually come up with a foolproof plan."

As they watched, the Hetfield 1000 started singing.

_End of passion play, _

_Crumbling away,_

_I'm your source of self-destruction._

The voice was somewhat different then how James Hetfield would normally sing it live. The voice sounded younger, louder. It was obvious that when Robotnik had put the songs into the robot's memory, he included the exact way James sounded on each record.

The doctor grinned. "Yes, it's perfect now." Sleet nodded again. But something else was on his mid. "Sir, just a question, what are you going to do about Sonic and the others? And let's not forget that the real James Hetfield is still loose. We know that Sonic got to him before we did, so they could show up and ruin everything."

Robotnik glanced at his assistant, then at the band. "I wouldn't worry to much. Once the mind control chips are activated, they will all be under my control, Just as the three real band members are now. There will be nothing they will be able to do."

Sleet nodded. Robotnik watched the band as the Hetfield 1000 sang the main verse.

_Master of Puppets, I'm pulling your strings,_

_Twisting your minds and smashing your dreams._

_Blinded by me, can't see a thing,_

_Just call my name and I'll here you scream!_

_Master…_

_Just call my name and I'll hear you scream._

_Master!_

_Master!_

After a minute, the doctor nodded. "Right then. Sleet, I want you to organize a team of SWAT bots and place posters around the city. I think it's time Metallica made their debut concert on Mobius."

Sleet nodded and left the room. As the rest of the song was being played, Robotnik smiled evilly. "I'd like to see those stupid hedgehogs stop this one."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sonic, Manic, Sonia, Tails, and James were walking down the streets of Robotropolice the next day, enjoying the day and talking about their jam session last night.

"I don't think I've yet to hear that song played like that, James said, "It was just so bad-ass."

Sonia smiled. "Thanks James. It was cool trying something new for a change."

"Same here," Sonic and Manic joined. James smiled. "Yeah, well, you guys really added a cool twist on it. Especially with the keyboard and drum playing."

Sonia and Manic smiled sheepishly. James turned to Sonic and Tails. "And you guys did some awesome guitar playing. I think that you guys are the best guitarists I've played with behind Kirk and Jason."

Sonic and Tails now smiled sheepishly. "Heh…thanks," Sonic said. Sonia looked up. "Manic looked up. "Whose Kirk and Jason?"

James glanced at him. "Kirk is Metallica's lead guitarist, Jason's our base player. Our drummer's name is Lars." "Oh," Manic said.

The hedgehogs and Tails grinned "Are they as cool as you?" Tails asked.

James scratched his head. "Well, you could say that. Lars is well…let's just say he's a bit confusing when you first meet him. Not to mention wild. Kirk is a pretty calm guy, good to have around when you're in a bad mood. Jason is…well he's quiet, but he's got a lot of energy when he plays. He's crazy."

Everyone nodded. James shrugged. "Who knows, maybe when we get them out, you'll meet them."

Everyone smiled, excited at the thought of not only meeting Metallica, but also meeting more humans in general.

They walked down the sidewalk for a while. Along the way, they passed several stores with large display windows. On one such store, something suddenly got Sonic's attention. He was the only one to notice it at first. He backed up to the window and stared at the poster, concern and surprise in his eyes.

The rest of the group continued walking until Sonia realized Sonic had stopped. She turned around, a curious look on her face. "What is it, Sonic?"

Everyone else stopped to look. Sonia walked next to her brother and stared at the poster, the same surprised expression appearing on her face as she read it. They ere soon joined by Manic and Tails. Only James stood back. "Yo guys, what's up?" he asked.

"James," Sonic said, "Remember that plan you said Robotnik had in mind for your band?" James nodded. "Yeah, what's your point?"

Sonic motioned to the poster. "I think you should see this."

James shrugged and walked over to see what it was. When he looked up, his expression drained. The poster was an advertisement. The first thing he noticed was a huge Metallica logo on the top. Below that, in bold writing, it said 'A band that's out of this world, (Literally) will be making a special debut concert in Mobious stadium. Be there at 8:00 PM. it's guaranteed to blow you away!"

James stared at it in disbelief. Sonic noticed his expression and looked up. "I guess Robotnik gonna try to pull it earlier then we thought."

James shook his head. "I don't get it," he said, "How the hell can he pull it off when he doesn't even have the key ingredient for the band?"

Tails looked at him confused. "What ingredient?" James turned to him with a look as if to say, 'What the fuck do you think?' It took a minute, but Tails got the message. "Oh," he said and turned away.

For another minute, they looked over the poster. "Maybe it's a trap to get a hold of you, James," Sonia said. James slowly turned his head to the little hedgehog. "To get me?" He looked around. "Does he really think I'm that dumb?"

Sonia shrugged at this. James sighed. "Well, if that's the case, then I really see only one way to proceed."

Everyone turned to him. "What do you have in mind?" Manic said James smiled slyly. "If he does want me to show up, he's gonna get a little more then he bargained for."

The animals looked at each other, confused. But it didn't take them long to get what James was saying. Sonic looked up at him, the same sly expression. "I think we need to bring down the house tonight." James nodded. "Right on."


	12. Stopping Robotnik: Part 1

_Man, I've been slacking off latley. _

_I apologize for taking so long between updates, but I've been tossing a lot of ideas around lately for my next story and haven't given this one much thought. However, I did get one great idea for this during my brainstorming, and once I write it in, I think you'll all be pleased with the way this will end. (Don't worry, it won't be this chapter.) _

_But for now, here's my latest work. Enjoy and remember to post a review._

* * *

Later that night, in Mobius Stadium, Metallica, along with their robotic lead singer, were situated on the stage in the center of the stadium. They stood like statues, their instruments ready and waiting. 

Slowly, Mobians began filling seats. It was gradual, as no one had ever seen humans before; so many were not keen on showing up at first.

From a skybox high above the stage, Dr. Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo looked down on everything from the large windows. Robotnik had a wide grin on his face. "This is perfect," he said. "Everything is set and ready. Nothing is going to stop this plan."

Sleet looked down at the band. "I must agree, doctor, it seems that this time we will succeed 100."

Robotnik didn't respond, just continued to look over everything. "Soon, the stadium will be full of enough of the city's citizens to begin." He laughed. "Tonight, we begin our musical conquest of Mobius."

While the doctor was enjoying himself in the skybox, five figures crept slowly below the bleachers on the stadium, carefully avoiding the SWAT bots patrolling the various rows. They made it to a darkened area under an overhanging part of the floor above them, and there, they stared out over the stadium, still gradually filling up with animals.

"Looks like he's not gonna back off from this," Sonic said. "He's attracting a lot of people," Manic said, looking at the crowds filling the seats.

James glanced around, his eyes focusing on the stage. He taped sonic, who turned to look as well. "Looks like robo-dick has everything ready." James said, staring. He squinted to make out their expressions, which were almost non-existent. "Shit, the guys look like zombies." He said, surprised.

He turned to the others. "Anyone got any ideas on what to do?"

Sonic was glued to the band. He glanced over them, noting their drained expressions. He noticed right away that they were under Robotnik's mind control. But what caught him off guard was the fact that there were four people on stage, not three. "Hey James," he said, "Who's that fourth guy up there with the rest of the band?"

James turned back and looked. He didn't notice the fourth member at first, just Kirk, Lars, and Jason. "I don't see any…" he stopped when he noticed a very familiar figure standing in front of everyone. He was wearing a black T-shirt and dark blue Jeans, same as himself. As James stared, he finally realized who he was looking at. "Holy shit," he exclaimed, "It's me!"

Everyone turned and looked at him, confused. "How can it be you?" Tails asked. "You're standing right here."

James shook his head. "I don't know…" He turned to the animals. "But I think we need to find out."

A few minutes later, James, the three hedgehogs, and Tails were cautiously creeping around by the stage, James trying to get a closer look at this poser on stage with his band. But the more he looked, the more he noticed something off about it. "They just fucking stand there," He said.

As he came up to his counterpart, he stared closely at the face. "He looks exactly like me. What the fuck…" he looked the figure over. He couldn't find anything different.

"Maybe Robotnik cloned you somehow," Manic said. Everyone looked at him. "What, it's possible, knowing him." Sonic sighed. "You know bro, there is a thing called 'analyze the situation.' Learn how." Sonia and Tails chuckled.

James looked back at the look alike on stage. He glanced up at the face, and noticed something unusual. It was in the eyes. Something was odd about them. They just looked too unnatural. He leaned closer, trying to get a better look. His eyes widened in shock. "Holy shit," he said slowly, "It's mechanical. That fucker built a robot version of me!"

That shocked everyone else. They all glanced from James to the robot, and back. "Wow," Sonic sad. "At least he did a good job," Sonia said. James stared down at her. "What? He did." James shook his head.

Tails noticed that the rest of the band was standing like statues as well. He tugging on James sleeve to get his attention. "Hey James, what's wrong with the rest of them? Are they robots to?"

James glanced over his band mates. It didn't take him long to come up with an answer. "No, they're still human. I just don't get why they aren't doing a damn thing."

Sonic glanced at Lars, Jason, and Kirk. He knew right away that they were under mind control; he could tell by their blank expressions. "They're being controlled by Robotnik. That's why they're not doing anything."

James glanced from the hedgehog to the band. He scratched his head. On his world, mind control was damn near impossible, but here, it could be done with almost no effort, it seemed.

As he dwelled on that thought, Tails and Sonic noticed shadows moving in their direction. "SWAT bots!" Tails said. "Get down!" Sonic yanked him to the ground. Manic and Sonia quickly followed. James was still thinking about mind control, when Manic grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the ground.

"Hey what the…" James was cut off as a gloved hand was placed over his mouth by Sonic. The group slowly began crawling backwards into the shadow cast by the stage as two SWAT bots suddenly came into view a few feet away. James' eyes widened with surprise and recognition.

The bots looked around in every direction. The group wasn't sure if they were looking for them, or just checking the area. After a minute though, the bots moved away, slowly heading toward the other side of the stadium.

Sonic waited for them to get out of range before removing his hand from over James mouth. "Sorry, but I didn't want you to blow our cover," he said with a sheepish smile. James shook his head. "Yeah, thanks."

Slowly, everyone got to their knees and huddled into a group. "Okay," Sonic said, "We need a plan. When that band starts playing…" He was interrupted as James cleared his throat. Sonic glanced at him, but got the message. "Sorry. When James' band starts playing, we won't have a lot of time to act before the mind control devices start kicking in. Any suggestions?"

Everyone looked puzzled. All except James. "I got something, pal." Everyone turned to him, giving him their full attention. "I think we need to figure out where doctor fat ass and his little friends are hiding. I'm guessing that any control devices and shit would be in the same place. We get the doc, we get the equipment, and we fuck up his plan."

Everyone looked at him, confused. James didn't get it. "What? You guys don't like that one?"

Sonia shook her head. "Man, you humans don't think things through, do you?"

James glared at her. "Yeah, well what did you come up with?"

She smiled slyly. "Something a little risky, but if we all work together, I know it'll work."

James and the others leaned closer so they could hear. "What have you got?" James asked.


	13. Stopping Robotnik: Part 2

_Okay, you guys are gonna love this chapter, as well as the one that follows it._

_Real quick, I just want to answer one of my reveiwers: __**Superman64: **You asked about those two songs and I did think about it. I don't think either will work for the story, as I've been choosing songs that if you'll notice, seem to fit with the characters and situations of the series. (I.E. Fuel with Sonic's band, since it's about going fast, and since Sonic is fast. Get it?) Sorry, but the lyrics for both of those just don't do it for me. At least not in this story._

_Anyway this is all building up to a great climax, so stay tuned, and remember to reveiw. Enjoy_

* * *

About five minutes later, the two SWAT bots were moving back toward the stage. Everything seemed normal. The band was still standing in their positions. By now, lots of Mobians had filled the stadium, and there was a steady buzz as they all were talking. 

In his skybox, Robotnik glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was 7:45. Almost time for the concert to begin. He glanced out the window at the band. Everything seemed normal. But then he noticed the SWAT bots walking around by the stage.

He scratched his head, wondering if something was wrong. He pulled out a radio and tuned to a certain frequency. "SWAT bots, what is the situation?" he asked into the radio.

After a minute, a mechanical voice droned a reply. "Situation normal. Inspection of stage area normal."

Robotnik glanced out the window. After a minute, he seemed satisfied with that and put the radio away. Sleet looked up. "Something wrong doctor?"

Robotnik shook his head. "Oh no, just wondering why those two SWAT bots were wandering around the stage. It's nothing." Sleet nodded and looked back at the window."

On the ground by the stage, The SWAT bots were turning to go away again. Just as they started moving though, Sonic suddenly appeared right in front of them, a smug look on his face. "Say tin cans," he said, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me find a seat."

The robots paused. They stared at Sonic for a minute, looked at each other, then raised their laser guns and started firing. Sonic easily avoided each shot, and even added a sarcastic yawn as if he was bored.

Up in the skybox, Sleet noticed this first. His eyes widened with shock and surprise. "Doctor Robotnik!"

The doctor looked up, confused. Before he could say anything, he noticed Sonic on the ground, now running in circles around the two SWAT bots, who were still firing away, to no avail.

The doctor's face turned red with anger. He pulled out his radio, and turned it to another frequency. "Attention all SWAT bots within the stadium! Apprehend Sonic at once! Repeat, get the hedgehog now!" He glared at Sonic. "I will not let you ruin my plans again!"

On the ground, while Sonic was keeping the robot's busy, Manic, Sonia, and James decided to make a run for it. Let's go!" Manic said, rushing them. "Okay, take it easy," James said. They all made a rush for the nearest entrance inside the stadium. "Hurry and we might make it!" Sonia said.

Sleet looked out the window and noticed the others running. "Doctor, The other hedgehogs are on the run…. and they have the real James with them!"

Robotnik glanced down. He noticed the others on the run, but he also noticed that they were heading inside the stadium; probably coming for him. He picked up the radio again. "Get the others as well, now! Stop them!"

The doctor then turned to Sleet and Dingo. "You two, get your tails down there and make sure we get rid of those pests." The two animals nodded. They both pulled out a laser gun and were out the door without another word."

On the ground, Sonia, Manic, and James just barely made it inside the stadium as more SWAT bots showed up behind them. Outside, Sonic saw that they made it in. "Okay, now to make sure it's easy for 'em."

He suddenly took off in the direction of the others, but he was really heading for the SWAT bots. The ones that were firing at him turned and chased after him, still firing.

As Sonic reached the other bots, they suddenly turned and fired, but the little hedgehog was too quick. The shots from both teams of SWAT bots missed him, and hit the bots instead, each one being taken down, a laser hole in their chest.

By the stage, Tails was laying in the shadows, waiting. When he saw that Sonic had taken out the robots, and that Dr. Robotnik was distracted, he hovered up onto the stage using his twin tails and flew right in front of the other band members. He went down the line, taking the mind control pin off each of them. He landed on the side of the stage, standing with the pins in his hand, looking up at the band.

Slowly, The three real members of Metallica came to their senses, regaining control over their bodies. Lars was the first to finally say something. "Where the fuck are we?" he asked, looking around the stadium at all the strange animals.

"Looks like a fucking zoo," Jason said. Kirk shook his head to clear it out before speaking. "I think that we're the attractions, buddy."

"You're all in Mobius Stadium." Tails said. Kirk, Lars, and Jason all slowly turned to look at who spoke those words. Upon seeing the little fox, their eyes widened in shock. "What the fuck…" was all Lars could say. "Did that fox just say something?" Jason said. Kirk just rubbed his eyes, not sure he was seeing this.

Tails noticed the band's surprise and smiled. "You are Metallica, right? Don't worry, you guys are safe for now."

That only gave more surprise to the band. Kirk shook his head. "How do you…" he paused. "Who, no, what the hell are you?"

Tails was about to reply, but he suddenly noticed SWAT bots moving in their direction from the stadium seats.

He turned back to the band, his expression serious. "It'll be explained later. We need to get out of here." He hovered off the stage and flew toward another entrance to the Stadium interior. "Come on!"

The guys just stood there in disbelief. "Okay…is that thing flying?" Jason asked, still shocked. "I think so," Lars replied.

A laser shot landed at Jason's feet and snapped them out of their trance. They quickly put down their instruments and hauled ass in the direction Tails went.

Inside, The others were still moving. They turned and ran down a hallway. After a few feet, they all stopped and looked behind them. "I think we lost them," Manic said. "You hope," James said.

They turned around, but before they could start moving, they bumped into Sleet and Dingo coming from the other end of the hallway. After seeing who they had run into, they raised their weapons. "Don't move, any of you." Sleet said.

The group didn't bother resisting, as they would probably be shot if they tried to run now. They slowly pout there hands up. It was then that James noticed Dingo.

"Well, look who it is." He said, sarcastically. "Hey, you enjoy that autograph I gave you before?"

Dingo looked pissed. He raised his gun, and probably would've fired if Sleet didn't stop him. "Easy," he said. "The doctor may want him alive."

Dingo glared at James, who simply gave him a smug look. "Yeah dumb ass, the doc might want me alive. So you might want to lower your little ray shooter there before you get in trouble."

Dingo was so tempted to shoot, but Sleet gave him a disapproving stare. Slowly, he lowered his gun. "You're lucky, buddy," he said. James just laughed sarcastically.

Sleet had enough. He motioned for the others to start walking. "Let's go. Move." He turned around to walk, but found that Sonic was standing in the middle of the hallway, a smug expression on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry. You wanted to go that way?"

Sleet glared at the hedgehog. "Ah, Sonic. It appears that we'll kill two birds with one stone here." Sonic laughed. "I don't think so, pal." Sleet shook his head. "You are really arrogant sometimes." He turned to Dingo. "Get him."

Dingo rushed Sonic, but the hedgehog quickly stepped aside, letting Dingo run a few more feet down the hallway. When he finally realized that Sonic was no longer in front of him, he stopped and quickly turned around, running at Sonic again. The hedgehog simply shook his head. "You'll never learn."

As Dingo approached, Sonic zipped out of the way, at the same time pulling a maneuver, which caused Dingo to trip, sending him to the ground with a thud, his larer gun clattering across the floor.

Sleet quickly realized that he needed to act. But as he went for the gun, Manic suddenly jumped in the way and swiftly picked it up. Sleet raised his own gun, hoping to hit Manic before he could fire back, but James suddenly kicked him from behind, again, his boot landing right in the wolf's crotch area.

As Sleet doubled over in Pain, James pried his gun out his hand, and aimed it steadily at his head. Manic stood up, but seeing that one target was already taken, he turned and aimed at Dingo, who was slowly getting to his feet.

James nodded. "Yeah, now who's got who, bitch?" Sonic nodded. "That was pretty cool, guys." James and Manic both answered at the same time. "Thanks." They both immediately turned and looked at each other, a little surprised. Sonia chuckled a little.

Sonic then motioned for them to follow him. "Come on, I know which skybox Robotnik's in." He turned and raced down the hallway. James hauled Sleet up to his feet, while Manic kept Dingo in check. "Now, you move." James said.

In the skybox, Robotnik stood alone. He had noticed that the band was missing, and Sleet and Dingo had been gone for a good few minutes. "Damn that hedgehog and his interference. I'd better get out of here while I can."

He turned and ran toward the door. The second he opened it, he was met Kirk, Lars, and Jason, all staring at him, anger in their eyes. Robotnik didn't realize the pins were missing, so he tried to give them orders. "Metallica, what are you doing here? Get back on stage!"

The three band members didn't respond, just slowly walked into the room. Robotnik slowly started backing up. "Sorry, fat ass," Jason said, "but we won't be doing jack shit for you anymore."

He cracked his knuckles as Kirk stepped forward. "Say, these are yours, right?" he said as he tossed the mind control pins in the doctor's face. Robotnik looked down at the devices. He knew that he wasn't controlling the band anymore. He looked back up at their angry faces, his expression now one of nervousness. "Oh dear…" was all he was able to say.

Kirk and Jason looked at each other. "You hold him, and I'll punch," Jason said. Kirk nodded. "Right on." Without looking back, he motioned for Lars to close the door.

As he shut the door, he noticed Tails was standing outside, watching. "You stay out here little…whatever the fuck you are…this could get ugly." Tails nodded as the door shut.

Suddenly, Tails herd the sound of punches connecting with flesh, and the sound of equipment being broken and thrown around. Someone was getting their ass kicked, and Tails had a feeling it was Robotnik.

A few minutes later, James and the hedgehogs showed up, still guarding Sleet and Dingo. The first thing they noticed was Tails standing in the hall, his ear to the door. "Hey buddy, what's up?" Sonic asked.

Tails looked up. "Metallica is beating up Robotnik!" James looked surprised at this. "The guys are in there with him?" Tails nodded. James glanced at the door. "I gotta see this."

He walked over to the door. He heard a few more punched and crashing sounds, then it suddenly stopped. James knew something heavy was going down in there. Carefully, he opened the door.

In the room, he saw Robotnik, his face full of bruises and cuts, his lip bleeding, and a large black eye, being tied to a chair with electrical wires by Kirk and Lars. Kirk was standing next to the chair, looking down and shaking his head. "For a guy who acts all big and bad, you can't fight worth shit," he said.

James was even more surprised that Kirk said that and apparently helped beat this guy up, as he was usually the calmer guy in the band. He shook that thought off though and walked into the room. "I see you guys got here first."

Everyone looked up at their friend. Suddenly, they went from pissed off to happy. "James…" Lars was a little surprised. "Holy shit dude, you alright?" Kirk asked. James nodded. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." He glanced at Robotnik. Can't say the same for him though. Looks like you did a number on him"

Lars finished tying the doctor up and walked over to his friend. "Yeah dude, you should have been here. This fucker got what was coming to him." "Yeah," Jason said," we saw him in the window and decided we'd pay him a little visit, you know?"

James laughed as Lars continued. "We probably wouldn't have been up here if it weren't for that fox…or whatever the fuck it is."

James scratched his head for a minute before he realized what Lars was talking about. He smiled. "Oh, you mean Tails?"

The rest of the band scratched their heads. "It has a name?" Jason asked. James laughed again. "Oh yeah. He's even got a few friends I'd like you to meet." He turned and called out the door. "Hey guys, come on in!" He stepped aside as Tails entered the room, followed by Sonia and Manic, and lastly, Sonic.

At the sight of the hedgehogs, the rest of the band practically passed out from the shock. James smiled as he introduced everyone. "Guys, this is Sonia, Manic, and Sonic the Hedgehog. You already met Tails."

Kirk knew about Sonic, so he was the most surprised. "Sonic the Hedgehog…but…but he's not…"

James smiled. "Oh trust me, he's real." Before Kirk could reply, James was back on the introductions. "Sonic, these are the guys I was talking about. Kirk, Lars, and Jason. The rest of Metallica."

Sonic smiled. "Hey guys. It's cool to finally meet all of you."

Manic nodded. "Yeah, James was telling us about you guys." Manic said. Sonia nodded as well. "Yeah, he was talking about your guys music. He even played a few songs for us. Cool stuff."

Everyone was still to stunned to speak. But Jason finally managed a few words. "Uh…thanks…I guess."

After more silence, Lars finally decided to get some answers. "Okay, can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on here?"

James smiled. "It's a long story, pal. You might want to get comfortable."

About 15 minutes later, Kirk, Lars, and Jason were all standing a little calmer, clearly because they had a little more understanding of what was happening here.

"So this is like a separate universe where these characters exist?" Kirk asked. "Yeah, that's it," James said.

"And these guys have a band?" Lars asked, looking at Sonic and the others. "We sure do," Sonic said with a smile. "It's been a while since we last preformed though. We've been busy with Robotnik and all."

Lars nodded. Jason stepped in. "Yeah, well, you won't be having anymore problems with him." He nodded toward the unconscious doctor, Sleet and Dingo now tied up next to him.

Sonia shook her head. "It's kinda funny. All this time of fighting him ourselves, and we weren't even the ones to finish him off."

"Don't worry about that," James said. "He ain't done yet. We need him to get back home, remember? After we leave, he's all yours."

Everyone seemed happy about that, as it was a win-win situation. Metallica all stood up. "That reminds me," James said, "We need to get to that portal thing. Lord knows what shit is going on with us missing on our world."

There was a silence as he walked over to Robotnik. James frowned at the fact that he was still out cold. "Guess we'll have to wait till he come to, though."

He turned to the others. "Well guys, it seems like we got time to kill. What are we gonna do while we wait?" Kirk smiled. "I'll take Jason on in a game of cards."

Jason glared at him. "Oh, don't start." James laughed. "You're just afraid of losing. Again."

While this was going on, Sonic and the other had gathered into a huddle and were talking to each other. "Well, they're gonna have to wait, I say we help them, maybe wake up Robotnik." Tails said. "Manic shook his head. "Look at him. They beat him to Kingdome come. He won't wake up for a long while."

Sonic spoke up. "Well, they did all that for us. We have to figure something out. There's gotta be something we can do while they wait."

Suddenly, Sonia looked up, a smile on her face. "Sonic, didn't you say that it's been a while since we lat preformed?"

"Yeah, Sonic replied," Why?

"Well, we have a crowd of people out there waiting for a show, right?" It took a minute, but soon everyone smiled at the thought of the idea. "All their stuff is already on stage. They could perform with us!" Manic said.

Sonic liked the sound of that. "If that one song sounded good with just James, imagine what more of their songs will sound like with the entire band playing." Everyone nodded. It was a great idea.

Sonic turned to Metallica, grinning. "Say guys, we have an idea for you." The band turned and faced Sonic. "What have you got?" James asked.

Sonic glanced at his band mates, their looks urging him on. He turned back to Metallica. "Well, since there are two pretty popular bands here, and since all those people out there did come out to see a show, how about perform a special concert?"

The band members all looked at each other. A concert with cartoon characters? It sounded strange. But as they let the idea sink in, they started to like it more and more. Another S&M concert. Only this time, it stood for Sonic and Metallica.


	14. Sonic and Metallica: Live!

_Well, here it is. What this whole story has been building up to. Sonic and Metallica, Live! I hope you all enjoy this. I tried as hard as I could to describe each song and get it right. This is the whole reason I started this story, to get to this point. __In total, there are seven songs, all from Metallica, but you'll just have to read on to see what they are and who performs what. Have fun._

* * *

The buzzing of the people in the stadium had gotten to almost a fever pitch. Everyone it seemed was talking about what had just happened with Sonic and the others a few minutes ago. The stadium itself was practically filled to capacity, most of the people there just curious about this "new band" they were going to see. 

Everything suddenly got quiet when Sonic suddenly appeared on stage. As he walked up to one of the mics, he glanced at the robot version of James, still standing, holding the black Flying V that the real James would normally use. He didn't move it; cause he figured James would want to do that himself.

As he took the mike, everyone in the audience stared at him, wanting to know what was going on. "How you all doing tonight?" he asked Things remained silent. Sonic glanced around before continuing. "I know you all came expecting to see a show. Well, it turns out that that was just part of one of Dr. Robotnik's plans to control all of you."

Several gasps followed from the crowd as Sonic said that. But he smiled as he followed up with the good news. "Don't worry though. As of tonight, Doctor Robotnik, and his little assistants, won't be troubling this city, or all of Mobius ever again." The crowd cheered.

Sonic motioned for someone to come forward. Out of the stadium marched Sonia and Manic and Tails, followed closely by the members of Metallica, who were pushing a large maintenance cart out into the stadium area. On that cart were Robotnik, Sleet and Dingo, all tied up and helpless. The doctor was still out cold.

The crowd cheered louder at the sight of this. Sonic smiled. "Tonight, his reign of terror has finally ended!" As the crows continued to cheer, the others rolled the cart right next to the stage. Sonia and Manic then climbed up onto the stage with their brother, followed by Tails.

The three hedgehogs stood together, triumphant smiles on their faces. Sonia walked up to the mike. "Andso tonightwe figured that we'd celebrate by performing a special concert for all of you!"

More cheers roared from the seats, followed by monstrous applause. Sonic put a hand up to quiet them a little. "But this isn't gonna be just any old concert. No. Tonight, we'll be playing with a very special band."

Manic took spoke up. "Now, these are the guys Robotnik had under his control and that were gonna be performing earlier to bring you all under his mind control," he paused, letting Tails talk. "But we all worked together to get them free and take down the doctor for good!"

The crowd cheered yet again. Sonic spoke once more. "So now, we'd like you to meet these guys for the first time, andprobably the only time, cause for tonight and tonight only, we're gonna perform their songs instead of ours. So without further delay, here from another world, Metallica!" As each member came on stage, Sonic sad their names. But the audience had gone quiet at the sight of them.

Manic introduced the first member. "On drums, Lars Ulrich!" A few small applause were heard as Lars went to his drum set.

Tails introduced the next. "Up next, on bass for their band, Jason Newsted!" Jason walked up and picked up his bass guitar, adjusting it to get more comfortable.

Sonia got the next. "On lead guitar, Kirk Hammet!" Kirk picked up his black Explorer, which was already tuned and adjusted to his settings.

Sonic smiled, waiting for the audience to take this al in before introducing the last member. "And what band is complete without a lead singer? On rhythm guitar, and vocals, James Hetfield!" James walked up and waved at the crowd, but he only got one or two yells as a response.

He walked up to the robot version of himself. "Excuse me pal. But I believe that's my guitar." He carefully removed the Flying V from around the robot. Once he had it secured, he kicked the bot, allowing it to fall off the stage, falling apart on impact with the ground.

He walked back to where his band stood, each of them in front of a microphone, in the same spots Robotnik had put them in. James spoke into his mic to the crowd. "How you guys doing?" Again, he got only a few yells.

He looked behind him at his band. They all had the same expressions. They knew that they weren't really wanted on this planet. He turned back to the crowd. "Listen, I know that we aren't what you people are used to seeing, and we can understand that, but all we ask is that you respect us the same way you respect each other on this world."

He got no big response, so Sonic took it upon himself to take over. "Come on, let's here if for them!" The audience cheered, but it was clear that most of it was just cause Sonic told them to. There was only one way Metallica were going to win these people over, and it was through music. But James realized that no one in Sonic's band had an instrument.

"Say Sonic," he said, if we're gonna do this, you guys need some instruments.

Sonic looked up. Of course James was right. He looked around. The only one that didn't have something on hand was Tails. "I'll be back in a sec," Sonic said.

He dashed off the stage and out of the stadium in a flash, leaving a cloud of dust. It wasn't long before he was back, and he was holding Tails' bass guitar. "Here ya go, buddy." He said with a smile. Tails took his guitar and plugged it into the same amp as Jason's.

The three hedgehogs looked at each other. "Okay guys, guess we need to get our stuff ready." As Metallica watched, all three withdrew little medals that looked oddly like instruments.

As they held them, they little things started to glow and transform, changing shape and size, until they became full sized instruments. Sonic's guitar, Manic's drums, and Sonia's keyboard. The crowd cheered.

James and Sonic looked at each other. They spoke out enough for the mics to pick it up, for the crowd to hear. "Here we go, buddy," Sonic said.

James smiled. "Yeah. You think you'll be able to keep up with us?"

Sonic laughed. "I can keep up with anything. I am Sonic the Hedgehog, after all." The crowd laughed a little at that one.

James nodded. "Okay, you think so? Well, I got one here for ya. Let's see how well you last against the **Battery!"** Metallica got the message. Kirk went right into the opening riff. James looked around at the crowd. "Come on people, let's rock" A few more cheers were heard, this time, actually for Metallica.

As Lars played the opening crash on the cymbals, James got on his guitar and started jamming, and then, the song exploded into its full intensity.

Sonic and his band were caught a little off guard at the speed of the song. Manic was just amazed at how Lars was able to play double bass like that! But sonic broke their shock. "Come on, they wanna play fast, let's show them!"

He started playing a slightly different riff in a different tune, but made sure it blended with what Metallica was playing. Sonia and Tails soon joined with a backing rhythm, and Manic just tried to keep up with Lars as best he could.

Ironically, that and everything Sonic's band played that night sounded almost exactly like the backing notes the symphony from the other S&M concert played, especially the keyboard, but it had a heavy rock twist on it cause it was done with guitars. But it didn't bother James; he thought it was badass then, and it was even more so now.

The intro to the song played with a ferocious speed and sound, with the two bands blended together perfectly. The crowd wasn't really sure how to react, since this was way different then anything they heard from Sonic. And when James finally started the lyrics, they all just remained in their seats, not sure what to do.

_Lashing out the action, returning the reaction,_

_Weak are ripped and torn away_

_Hypnotizing power, crushing all the cower_

_Battery is here to stay_

A few people stood up and cheered as James went into the chorus. Sonic and his band seemed to know the words and started singing along.

_Smashing through the boundaries, lunacy has found me_

_Cannot stop the **Battery!**_

On the word Battery, everyone yelled it out, making it stand out.

_Founding out aggression, turn into obsession_

_Cannot kill the **Battery!**_

_Cannot kill the family, Battery is found in me._

_**Battery!**_

James glanced at Sonic, wondering how they knew the words. He decided to see how much he knew. "Sing it, guys!"

Sonic smirked, knowing what James was trying to. So, he figured he'd not disappoint. He motioned for his band to keep it up as he sang the next verse.

_Crushing all deceivers, smashing non-believers_

_Never ending potency_

_Hungry violence-seeker, feeding off the weaker_

_Breeding on insanity._

_Smashing through the boundaries, lunacy has found me_

_Cannot stop the **Battery!**_

_Cannot kill the family, Battery is found in me._

_**Battery!**_

He played a solo in the high notes on his guitar as his band yelled out the word again.

_**Battery!**_

As the break in the song came on, James was pretty impressed. Sonic turned to him, a grin on his face. James nodded in approval. He turned to the audience, who were still at a loss on how to take this. Sonic decided to get things going. "Alright, Mobius," he said, "We want you guys to have some fun, so on the chorus, we want you all to sing. Yell it loud and proud! **Battery!** Come on…"

The music was starting to pick up again as James joined in trying to get the audience going. "Let's here it guys!" **Battery**!" this time, some of the audience yelled out with him. James nodded. "Hell yeah!"

The song came back with full intensity and Kirk went right into a solo. Sonic decided to match him with a solo of his own, but he couldn't play as fast as Kirk, so he gradually tuned it down to a backing rhythm. James and Kirk both noticed it and laughed. Both bands were having a blast, jumping around the stage, just rocking out. And it was only the first song!

The final verse came up, and James and Sonic both sang, James doing one, Sonic doing another.

_Circle of destruction, hammer comes crushing,_

_Powerhouse of energy_

_Whipping up the fury, dominating flurry_

_We create the battery._

_Smashing through the boundaries, lunacy has found me_

_Cannot stop the **Battery!**_

_Cannot kill the family, Battery is found in me!_

_**Battery!**_

_**Battery!**_

James pointed to the crowd. "Sing it!"

Everyone in the stadium was into the song. They all got to their feet and shouted along with the bands on stage.

_**Battery!**_

_One more time!_

_**Battery!**_

_Damn right!_

James played the ending riff, as Sonic walked up next to him. Together, they played the end of the song, jamming and rocking out.

As Lars and Manic closed out the song with a loud crash on the cymbals, James and Sonic played a dual solo, before closing with a series of short burst of sound from the guitar.

The crowd went crazy. They went from quiet to riot all within the 5-minute period of one song. Both bands could sense the crowd's sudden change. A good sign.

"Not bad," James said to Sonic's band. They all smiled and said "Thanks" all at once.

James turned to the audience next. "I had a feeling you guys would like that one," James said into the microphone. "Now that you guys know how we play, I think it's time we took it up a couple of notches!"

The crowd cheered wildly. "The next couple of songs are gonna be pretty fast, and once we end one, we're going right into another, so be ready." He turned back to Sonic. "If you guys know the words to any of these, just jump in when you want." Sonic smiled. "Will do."

James turned to his band. "Okay guys, let's give this world a show to remember. Hit the lights! One, two, three, four…"

The opening riff echoed across the stadium. It was fast, and it was heavy. Sonic waited to get used to the beat before jumping in. This time, Manic started on the drums. Lars was a little surprised, cause it was a different opening, but he let it go and played along, keeping time for the hedgehog.

On bass, Jason and Tails came in, Jason playing along with the guitar rhythm, Tails with the drumbeat. Kirk kept the main riff playing while James stayed on the rhythm of the song.

_No life till leather,_

_We're gonna kick some ass tonight!_

_We got the metal madness,_

_When our fans start screaming it's right. Well alright! _

_**Hell yeah!**_

Sonic, Sonia, Manic and Tails all joined in:

_When we start to rock we never_

_Wanna stop again!_

_**Hit the lights!**_

_**Hit the lights!**_

Sonic pointed to the crowd, and again, they all joined in:

_**Hit the lights!**_

_That's right!_

While Kirk played a short solo, James motioned for Sonic to sing the next verse, which he gladly did. Not just him, but his entire band sung a line or two.

Sonicand Tailssang the first two lines, and as they did,Sonic's voice mocked James' a little:

_We know our fans are insane,_

_We're gonna blow this place away!_

Sonia and Manic sang together on the next:

_With the volume higher,_

_Then anything today! The only way!_

_**Yeah!**_

They all sangthe lead in to the chorus:

_When we start to rock we never,_

_Wanna stop again!_

Every single person on stage sang the chorus this time, even Lars, who didn't even have a microphone in front of him.

_**Hit the lights!**_

_**Hit the lights!**_

_**Hit the lights!**_

This time, Sonic did the short solo before James jumped into the last verse:

_With all our screaming,_

_We're gonna rip right through your brain!_

_We got the lethal power,_

_And it's causing you sweet pain! Yeah, Sweet pain!_

Again, everyone on stage joined in, as well as the audience, to everyone's surprise:

_When we start to rock we never_

_Wanna stop again!_

_**Hit the lights!**_

_**Hit the Lights!**_

_**Hit the lights!**_

_You know it!_

Kirk went into the final solo of the song, and everyone else on stage gradually let up on their playing, until it was just Kirk, James, and Sonic.

A Kirk finished off the solo, things were now just to James and Sonic, who were still playing the rhythm to the song. However, Sonic slowly laid off his playing when James slowly started twisting the rhythm into a whole different riff.

It was slightly slower, but sounded heavier. Suddenly, it was a totally different song. Sonic wasn't sure he knew this one, but his band seemed to.

Sonia began laying in a keyboard tune, while Tails played the exact same riff on his bass. As it continued to build, Lars began a steady beat on the bass drums, with a few crashes on the cymbals, while Manic kept time. Kirk and Jason joined on their guitars as it built even more, Jason playing more to the drum beat this time.

Just when it seemed like the song was going to explode into it's full intensity, there was a short break. For a few seconds, everything was silent.

But it didn't last long, and just as suddenly as it stopped, it started up again with a vengeance. It was the song _Enter Sandman._ Sonic realized what was going on, and the minute it started up, he joined right in, playing the main riff on a low key. It made the song sound a little heavier.

The crowd cheered as the new song echoed through the night air. A few of them were actually head banging to it.

James noticed their reaction and laughed. "Here we go!" yelled into the mic.

_Say your prayers, little one_

_Don't forget, my son,_

_To include everyone._

_I tuck you in, warm within_

_Keep you free from sin,_

_Till the sandman he comes!_

_Sleep with one eye open,_

_Gripping your pillow tight,_

_Exit Light!_

_Enter Night!_

_Take my hand,_

_Off to Never- Never land!_

Sonic knew the chorus now, at least. He watched as James played a short solo of his own before singing the next verse:

_Something's wrong, shut the light,_

_Heavy thoughts tonight,_

_And they aren't snow white_

_Dreams of war, Dreams of Liars_

_Dreams of Dragons fire,_

_And of things that will bite!_

_**Yeah!**_

This time, Sonic and Tails joined with James on the chorus:

_Sleep with one eye open,_

_Gripping your pillow tight,_

_Exit Light!_

_**What is it?**_

The audience jumped up as they said the line:

_**Enter Night!**_

_Take my hand,_

Just sonic sang:

_Off to Never- Never land!_

James played the big solo, jamming away as Sonic and Sonia backed him up. Jason noticed Tails had been standing sort off by himself this entire time. He walked up next to him, and together, they jammed away, a smile on Tails face.

The solo was pretty long; James had purposely stretched it out a little. But when the time came to continue the song, he slowly wound it down into a low-key rhythm. Behind him, Jason leaned over and whispered something to Tails, who simply gave a nod in reply. James didn't see it and continued the song.

_Now I lay me down to sleep,_

_I pray the lord my soul to keep._

_And if I die before I wake,_

_I pray the lord my soul to take._

Tails echoed each line, his child like voice fitting perfectly. James turned and gave him a quick nod before going on.

_Hush little baby, don't say a word,_

_And never mind that noise you heard._

_It's just the beast under your bed,_

_It's in your closet and in your head!_

_Exit light!_

_Enter Night!_

_Grain of sand…_

Everyone on stage and in the audience sang the chorus one more time.

_**Exit light!**_

_**Enter Night!**_

_**Take my hand,**_

_**Off to Never-Never land!**_

The heavy part of the song played on for a little bit longer, the audience going wild, moving to the music. Slowly, each person on stage stopped playing, gradually winding down the song, basically like how they built into it only backwards. When it finally ended, they were met with waves of applause and wild cheering.

"Whoa, Whoa," James said, holding a hand up. "You think we're done? Hell no! We got plenty of tunes for you people to thrash to. So just sit back and enjoy the ride!"

Sonic spoke into the mic, talking to James, but making sure the audience heard it. "Hold on, James. You lead three songs, how about letting me take a crack at it?" That comment was met with the cheers of the crowd. James thought it over. "Okay, you want to try singing one? What did you have in mind?"

Sonic smiled. "The one called _Hero of the Day._"

James looked a little surprised at that one. Sonic and his band seemed to know a lot of the songs so far, and how Sonic wanted to sing an entire song on his own. How did they know all this? Ah well, might as well let him sing it now and ask questions later. "Okay dude, you want to sing that one? We'll help ya out."

He turned to his band and Sonic's. "Okay guys, nice and easy."

The animals nodded. James turned back around and began playing the opening, along with Kirk.

As they played, Sonic joined with a slow rhythm to match, and Sonia played a very classical, and emotional sounding tune on her keyboard, which seemed to strangely fit with the song.

Tails and Jason played a few soft bass strings, while Lars kept time with Manic doing some light fills on the bass drums.

Sonic waited to get a feel for the slower beat. "This song is dedicated so someone very special," he said. "Our mother, whom we hope is somewhere out there tonight, safe. This one's for you, mom."

_Mama they try and break me…_

_The window burns to light the way back home_

_A light that warms, no matter where they've gone_

_They're off to find the hero of the day,_

_But what if they should fall to someone's wicked ways?_

_Still the window burns,_

_Time so slowly turns,_

_Someone there is sighing._

_Keepers of the flames,_

_Do you feel your names?_

_Do you hear your babies crying?_

_Mama they try and break me…_

_Still they try and break me…_

The song picked up a little, Manic picking up more on the drums.

_Excuse me while I tend to how I feel._

_These things return to me that still seem real._

_Now, deservingly, this easy chair,_

_But the rocking stopped, by wheels of despair,_

_Don't want your aid,_

_But the fist I've made_

_For years, can't hold or feel,_

_No I'm not all me,_

_So please excuse me while I tend to how I feel._

The song picked up even more, Manic playing a hard beat on the bass drums. The main riff became a lot heavier sounding. The only thing that remained the same was Sonia's playing. James echoed the lines Sonic was saying, creating an eerie, yet still emotional effect.

_But now the dreams and waking screams_

_That ever last the night,_

_So build the wall, behind it crawl_

_And hide until it's light_

_So can you hear your babies crying now?_

The song now became more uplifting in sound, still a little heavier, but the tune was different. The crowd cheered as Sonic sang the first chorus again.

_Still the window burns,_

_Time so slowly turns,_

_Someone there is sighing._

_Keepers of the flames,_

_Do you feel your names?_

_Do you hear your babies crying?_

It went back to it's lower sound, with the bass drums playing, as again, James and Sonic sand the second chorus.

_But now the dreams and waking screams_

_That ever last the night,_

_So build the wall, behind it crawl_

_And hide until it's light_

_So can you hear your babies crying now?_

_Mama they try and break me… _

_Mama they try and break me… _

_Mama they try and break me… _

_Still they try,_

_**Yeah,**_

_Still they try and break me._

As Sonic closed out the song with those final words, and the music slowly faded, the crowd went wild. Sonic took a bow, while Tails wiped a tear from his eye.

James and the rest of Metallica were pretty impressed. James, Kirk, and Jason each went up and shook the hedgehog's hand. The crowd cheered again at the display of respect. After a minute or two of getting over the performance, Sonic turned to the audience. "That felt pretty good. Thanks for being such a wonderful audience."

As they cheered, James nodded. "Yeah, you know, that song had a lot of soul in it when we wrote it, and you just added to it there. That was really cool."

James looked around at the cheering crowd, and at the guys on stage. "You know, I have one that was written a while back. We didn't plan on playing it tonight but after hearing you, I think we should. It's called _Nothing Else Matters_. It's pretty soft, but it has a lot of meaning and a lot of heart."

Sonic nodded. "I think you guys should play it." He turned to the audience. "What do you think?" The reply came with a thunderous cheer. "Okay then, there's your answer." James nodded. "Okay. Here we go." He waited for the audience to quiet down a little before he began. "I guess, this one is dedicated to all of you guys," he said, motioning to Sonic's band and to the crowd.

He started playing a steady riff, just by himself. After a minute, Sonic picked up on it, and the two of them played together while Sonia gave them another emotional backing tune. The rest of the guys on stage just sat back and watched as James began the song.

_So close, no matter how far._

_Couldn't be much more from the heart._

_Forever trust in who we are,_

_And nothing else matters._

_Never opened myself this way._

_Life is ours; we live it our way,_

_All these words I don't just say,_

_And nothing else matters._

_Trust I seek, and I find in you._

_Everyday offers something new,_

_Open mind for a different view,_

_And nothing else matters._

_Never cared for what they do._

_Never cared for what they know,_

_But I know._

Lars and Manic picked up the song with a soft drum beat and Sonia's tune became more uplifting in sound. Sonic and James played on:

_So close, no matter how far._

_Couldn't be much more from the heart._

_Forever trust in who we are,_

_And nothing else matters._

Sonic picked up on the words and sang with James:

_Never cared for what they do._

_Never cared for what they know,_

_But I know._

They played on, just letting the music flow. The crowd was totally silent, listening to each word. After a minute of letting the tune flow throughout the stadium, James and Sonic sang on:

_Never opened myself this way._

_Life is ours; we live it our way,_

_All these words I don't just say,_

_And nothing else matters._

_Trust I seek, and I find in you._

_Everyday offers something new,_

_Open mind for a different view,_

_And nothing else matters._

_Never cared for what they say._

_Never cared for games and play._

_I never cared for what they do._

_Never cared for what they know,_

_But I know…_

_**Yeah!**_

James played the solo to the song, while Sonic and Sonia backed him up. It was a quite a sight, really. As James ended that solo, the drums faded out, and it was just he and Sonic and Sonia playing away, softly. Slowly, each one closed out their part, finally ending with a soft note from James' guitar.

The crowd cheered. James nodded. He and Sonic hugged each other, like two brothers; a show of respect. The audience cheered even louder, following it with applause. The two separated, bowed toward the crowd, and went back to their spots on stage.

After a minute, James smirked as he looked into the crowd. "Okay," he said," Now that we got that out of our systems, what do ya say we pick things up a little bit?"

The loud response was all he needed. "Alright Mobius, let's kick it once more!" He started playing an opening riff on his guitar.

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane,_

_But the memory remains!_

Metallica went right into the song, playing it harder then they ever did. Sonia had already started playing when James did, so Sonic and Tails had to build up into the song. Manic just kept time for Lars.

The audience started head banging as James started singing:

_Heavy rings on fingers wave,_

_Another star denies his grave._

_See the nowhere crowd cry the nowhere tears of honor._

_Like twisted vines that grow,_

_And that swallow mansions whole,_

_And dim the light of an already faded prima donna!_

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane…_

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane,_

Sonic's band and the audience sang the line:

_**But the memory remains!**_

Sonic played a solo while James jumped around, getting the audience worked up before singing the next verse:

_Heavy rings hold cigarettes,_

_Up to lips that time forgets,_

_While the Hollywood sun sets behind your back._

_And can't the band play on?_

_Just listen; they play my song!_

_Ash to Ash_

_Dust to Dust_

_Fade to black…_

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane…_

Sonic's band sang with James on the second part of the chorus:

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane…_

_Dance little tin goddess!_

Kirk played a high-pitched solo, filling in the spot where Marianne Faithful's vocals would normally be. Sonia played some high notes on her keyboard, helping him out. Jason and Tails were jamming away on bass, while Lars and Manic both played heavy drumbeats. The audience was just rocking out to the song, really into it, as James soon came back strong on the vocals.

_Drift away,_

_Fade away,_

_Little tin goddess,_

_Ash to Ash,_

_Dust to Dust,_

_Fade to black…_

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane…_

_Fortune, fame,_

_Mirror vein,_

_Gone insane,_

Everyone on stage:

_**But the Memory Remains!**_

Then just Sonic and James:

**_As to Ash_**

_**Dust to Dust,**_

_**Fade to black,**_

_**The memory remains!**_

_To this faded prima donna! _

_**Hell yeah!**_

Kirk played the solo this time. It was crazy, faster then normal for this song, building to the final part.

_Dance little tin goddess, Dance!_

James and Sonic both played the same exact solo, while Sonia backed them. The audience already started cheering, before the song even ended. Which it did, gradually, until Sonic was left playing the solo. The audience cheered him on, and he kept playing, mostly to show off.

Finally, he finished up, and to his surprise, Kirk started applauding him. James turned to the crowd. "Thank you very much, Mobius!" James said, "You've been great!"

Sonic looked around. Things were so crazy that some of the people in the seats had jumped down and were standing around the stage! "Well," he said, "I think this concert just got taken up a few more notches then we planned."

James looked again and noticed it. "Holy shit…Well, at least they were into the music."

Sonia glanced around. "Wait, why stop playing? One more song won't kill anyone."

Jason and Tails both nodded in agreement. "Yeah," Tails said, "Besides, the doctor is still out." Jason glanced at Robotnik. "He's right, James. Fat ass is down for the count, and it's a damn long count at that."

James glanced from Robotnik to the crowd, to the people on stage. "One more song you say? I don't know. What else can we play?"

Manic scratched his head. "Yeah. We already played a lot of your guy's stuff."

Kirk looked up. "We played the old stuff. We got new shit that no one's even heard yet." Lars spoke up. "Better think of something. Things are getting pretty Frantic out here."

James smiled. "That's it! Frantic! Our new one. Let's play that!"

Kirk shook his head. "James, listen to yourself. We all agreed that we wouldn't play that song till the tour for the new album started."

"On our world, we agreed to that. I mean, come on, do you really think we're gonna see these people again? They'll only hear it once!"

Kirk sighed. "Whatever, it's your song."

James smiled as he turned to the crowd. "You guys have been a really great audience tonight, and we thank you." The crowd cheered. "But, before we leave you tonight, we'd like to play one final song for you. One that hasn't been heard yet on our world, making you guys the first to hear it live! What do you think of that?" More cheers.

He turned to Sonic's band. "You guys think you can play this one? It's pretty heavy shit." Sonic nodded. "Bring it on! Let's end this with a bang!" James smiled. "Okay then. Let's rock! One, two, three four…"

Lars beat rapidly on the crash cymbal in intervals, creating a clanging sound. After a short battery of that, he switched to the snare drum, beating that rapidly in the same way. James joined in on his guitar, playing a fast rhythm, matching the drumbeats.

Kirk and Sonic kicked in with the backing rhythm, while Jason and Tails played heavy bass strings. Manic did a couple of light background fills, to liven it up a little. Sonia was at a loss of when to join in. The song just seemed too heavy. She decided to wait for the right part.

As the song went into it's full intensity, many of the people around the stage started moving to the music, head banging or just jumping around. It was the last song they were ever going to hear by this "Metallica", so they might as well enjoy it.

_If I could have my wasted days back,_

_Would I use them to get back on track?_

_Stop to warm and Karma's burning,_

_Or look ahead and keep on turning?_

_Do I have the strength_

_To know how I'll go?_

_Can I find it inside to deal with what I shouldn't know?_

_Could I have my wasted days back,_

_Would I use them to get back on track?_

Everyone in Metallica:

_**You live it or Lie it!**_

_**You Live it or Lie it!**_

_My Lifestyle, determines my Deathstyle!_

_My Lifestyle, determines my Deathstyle!_

Sonia started playing at this spot, and her, Sonic and Tails started singing along.

_Keep searching,_

_Keep on searching._

_This search goes on, on and on,_

_Keep searching,_

_Keep on searching._

_**Yeah!**_

_This search goes on, this search goes on,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock!_

James jumped around on stage, going crazy. It was the first time he was playing this live, so it was awesome to him. Sonic thought the song sounded cool to. He liked the rhythm and the chorus the most.

James walked back toward Sonic's band more as he sang the next verse. Sonia stopped playing, waiting for her part to come back up.

_I've worn out always being afraid,_

_An endless stream of fear that I've made._

_Treading water full of worry,_

_This Frantic tick tick tock of hurry._

_Do I have the strength_

_To know how I'll go?_

_Can I find it inside to deal with what I shouldn't know?_

_I've worn out always being afraid,_

_An endless stream of fear that I've made._

James let the audience sing it this time:

_**You Live it or Lie it!**_

_**You Live it or Lie it!**_

_My Lifestyle, determines my Deathstyle!_

_My Lifestyle, determines my Deathstyle!_

Sonia's keyboard kicked back in, and again, her, James, sonic, and Tails sang.

_Keep searching,_

_Keep on searching._

_This search goes on, on and on,_

_Keep searching,_

_Keep on searching._

_**Yeah!**_

_This search goes on, this search goes on,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock!_

The mid part of the song came on and the drums cut out along with Sonic and his band, with James and Kirk playing a short jam before everyone came back in. James started singing the next line.

_Do I have the strength_

_To know how I'll go?_

_Can I find it inside to deal with what I shouldn't know?_

Just Sonic sang:

_Do have the strength_

_To know how I'll go?_

_Can I find it inside to deal with what I shouldn't know?_

The audience cheered loudly as James and Kirk carried the rest of the song.Kirk did his background vocals in a low tone, making the song sound a little creepy.

_My Lifestyle,_

**Birth is Pain!**

_Determines my Deathstyle!_

_A Rising tide,_

_**Life is pain!**_

_That pushes to the other side!_

_My Lifestyle,_

**Death is Pain!**

_Determines my Deathstyle!_

_A Rising tide,_

_**It's all the same!** _

_That pushes to the other side!_

Sonia came back in again, and this time, and Tails and Jason upped their bass playing, making the part sound even heavier. However, James let Sonic's band sing the lines themselves this time:

_Keep searching,_

_Keep on searching._

_This search goes on, on and on,_

_Keep searching,_

_Keep on searching._

_**That's right!**_

_This search goes on, this search goes on,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock,_

_Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock!_

Metallica started playing short burst of music, and with each one, Sonic's band responded with a beat. Then, the song kicked back into an intense final jam session. One which the crowd went crazy for.

As the song ended with one final band, and the crowd went wild. The people standing took a bow, and Lars and Manic just sat behind their drum sets, both exhausted from playing fast songs most of the show.

Sonic and James addressed the crowd. "Thank you all, you guys rule!" James said. Sonic smiled. "You guys have helped make this concert all the more special. Thanks a lot, people!" The crowd cheered wildly.

Everyone on stage got together in one big group, Sonic's band mixed with Metallica, and so forth. All together, they took a final bow.

Beside the stage, on the cart, Sleet and Dingo watched in astonishment. "That was actually quite entertaining," Sleet said. Dingo nodded. "I think they're cool now!" Sleet glanced at his partner. "Moron."

Next to the, Dr. Robotnik was gradually coming to. "W…what happened?" he asked, his voice low. Clearly he was in pain. He glanced around. People surrounded him, but none it seemed were there to help him. "What's…going…on?"

He asked slowly. He followed everyone's gaze up to the stage, where he saw Sonic's band and Metallica standing together. His face turned red with rage. "Damn that… that…**hedgehog**!"

Everyone on stage as well as in the audience heard him shout that. Once he realized what he did, he was quick to shut up. "Oops…"

James smirked. "Well, well," he said, "Look who's awake. Didn't think you'd be up for a while with the beating you got."

James as well as everyone else jumped off the stage and surrounded the cart. "Now that your conscious, you're gonna help us get back to our world,"

James turned to the crowd. "Sorry for leaving people, but we need to take care of some business with this guy. We'll be seeing ya."

The crowd cheered as James and the rest of his band started moving the cart. The crowd separated to let them through, and the bands made their way to the exit.

* * *

_Right then. How did you all like that? Please post a review andlet me know what you think. Thanks again!_


	15. Home

_After all the waiting,the final chapter...finally! Enjoy everyone and make sure to review and put up some opinions on the story. You know, let me know how I did. Thanks._

* * *

Later In Robotnik's lab, Sonic, his siblings, and Tails stood in front of the large console next to the Inter Dimensional portal. The doctor and his assistants were tied up beside them, Metallica keeping an eye on them. 

Sonia finished making an adjustment and turned to Robotnik. "Are you sure this is right?"

The battered doctor looked up, hate in his eyes. "Yes…all you need to do is activate it and it should work."

Sonic grinned. "Thanks buttnick."

The animals turned to Metallica. "I guess you guys are set then." Tails said.

James nodded. "Guess so." Jason glanced at the portal. "It'll be good to get back to our world…" he noticed the upset expressions on the animals faces. "Not that we didn't enjoy things with you guys, of course."

"It was pretty cool jamming with you guys," Kirk said. Lars agreed. "Hell yeah, it fucking ruled."

"Just a question," James said, "But how exactly did you know the lyrics to so many of our songs?"

Manic laughed. "Dude, it was easy."

James scratched his head. "I'm not following."

Sonic pulled out a bunch of ruffled pieces of paper. "These fell out of your pocket when we were in the skybox with Robotnik. Most of the songs you sang were on these, so luckily we had the lyrics already memorized."

James took the papers and looked them over. "What are they?" Jason asked.

James looked up. "Lyric notes. I always scribble them down before a show. I did these on the concert we did before coming to this world."

Everyone looked at him. "What? Even the lead singer can sometimes forget lyrics."

Kirk shook his head. "The sad thing about that, buddy is that you wrote all the songs."

Everyone got a good laugh out of that. But when they settled down and again realized what was coming up, things got quiet again.

"Guess we'd better start up that machine, huh?" Sighed Sonic.

All four members of Metallica nodded at once. "Yeah, that would be a good idea." James said, looking down at the floor.

Sonic turned to the console and pressed a few buttons, and the portal slowly came to life, the orb of energy in it's center expanding and brightening until it again became a window.

Through it, Metallica could see their world. They were looking at the lounge of the stadium, the exact same spot from which they were taken.

"I set it so that you'll go back right around the time you were taken, so it looks like nothing happened." Sonia looked into the portal as she said that.

Metallica looked on, longing to return to their world. "Looks like were home free, boys." James said. They all turned to the animals. "It was fun guys." Kirk said.

"Yeah," Jason said, "You guys rock hard." "Thanks." Tails said. Sonic nodded. "Yeah, we really appreciate that coming from you guys."

Sonic put his hand forward. James took it. Same with Manic and Lars, Sonia and Kirk, and Tails and Jason. Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo just looked on in disgust.

Finally, Metallica worked up the guts to step back into their world. Lars went first. "See ya dudes. It's been real." He slowly stepped through. The others could see him materialize on the other side.

Kirk went next. "Keep on playing, guys." The animals nodded.

Jason just walked through, giving everyone a peace sign as he did.

Now, it was down to James. He looked around at his surroundings. No doubt there were some memories worth keeping. He turned to the four animals. "Guess I'll be seeing you guys."

Manic suddenly looked confused. "How?"

Sonia laughed. "Duh. We have a show on his world, silly!" Everyone chuckled at that before James finally regained his composure and started through. "Here we go."

"Hold up." Sonic said. James turned around. "What?"

"You think we'll ever do another show like that?"

James smirked. "Well, so long as this portal thing doesn't get fucked up, who knows?" Sonic nodded. "Cool."

James returned the nod and stepped through.

On the other side, all the band members had materialized. They were back in their won world and dimension. Things didn't look cartoon like anymore. This was their true reality.

All the band members looked back at the portal. Sonic, Manic, Sonia, and Tails were looking through at them. Sonic gave a last wave, and Metallica returned it with a nod as the portal then slowly began to close.

It grew smaller and smaller until it was finally gone, leaving not a trace of the window to another world.

In the mist of the confusion, a knock was suddenly heard on the door. Everyone looked at each other, wondering who was going to answer it.

Finally, James started walking, very slowly, until his hand touched the doorknob. On the other side he heard a voice. "Are you guys alright in there? Hello…" James was relived. It wasn't another SWAT bot, or whatever it was called. He swung open the door and was met with a stagehand standing on the other side. "What is it?" he asked, trying to sound annoyed.

The stagehand tried to glance into the room, but James blocked him. "We heard a noise from down the hall and wondered if you were alright," the man said.

We're fine," James said. "Things just got a little crazy for a minute, that's all. Now get the fuck out of here."

The surprised stagehand nodded. "Yeah, leaving." He turned and quickly walked off down the hall as James went back into the room, closing the door behind him. He sighed, thankful that he was at least talking to another human besides the band. Hell, he was glad to be back in his own world, finally.

On their world, Sonic and the others stood till the portal was completely shut. Sonia let out a long sigh. "Well, they're gone…"

Sonic nodded. "They're back where they belong though. I guess that's a positive thing."

They all agreed. Sonia turned to Robotnik. "What do we do with him?" Everyone else turned and stared at the doctor. He was helpless before them, as oppose to it being the other way around like it always used to be. "I saw we lock him up in the smallest cell here," Manic said.

As the group started debating, a door opened on the far side of the room. A figure slowly walked in, wearing a dark robe, the person's face hidden by the hood. Sonic was the first to notice. "Hey pal, who are you and what are you doing here?"

As the rest of the gang turned to look, the figure spoke. "It's truly a blessing that I can now see you all face to face."

Sonic and his siblings walked up to the figure, surprised due to the fact that the voice was that of a woman. Tails stayed back, knowing it didn't involve him. Plus, since he was shorter, he got a better view of who was under the hood. Of course, he kept his mouth shut.

"Who…are…you?" Sonia asked curiously. The figure laughed. "I' surprised that none of you can recognize me."

Manic scratched his head. "How are we supposed to recognize you if we don't even…"

He stopped as the figure slowly removed her hood. The three hedgehogs froze, to shocked and surprised to say anything. Before them stood their mother, Queen Aleena, the rightful ruler of Mobius.

"M…mom? Sonia asked, looking surprised. The Queen nodded.

B…b…but how…why…?" Manic stuttered. The Queen nodded in understanding. "I was at the concert you put on with that band of humans. Which I might add, I was very impressed." The hedgehogs each turned a shade of red.

"When it was over," the Queen continued, I saw you leave with Robotnik tied up. I followed at a safe distance, then just waited outside this room and listened."

The hedgehogs were still surprised, trying to take all this in. "It's just…so good to see you…" Sonic managed.

"And now that Robotnik is defeated, we can all be together, finally, as a family."

All three hedgehogs, on the verge of tears, moved up to their mom, and all four had a joyful group hug. It was a family reunion that they had all been long waiting for, and it felt good to finally get it.

In the corner, a tear ran down Dingo's face. "Isn't that sweet?" he said. Robotnik and sleet turned and looked at him. They glanced at each other, and then turned and both smacked Dingo on the back of the head at the same time. "Moron," they both muttered.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A few hours later,James walkedinto the lounge from the batroom, walkedover to a couch and sat down. The other band members had picked their spots in the room already. James sighed. "Hey Lars, is that pack of beer still over by that couch?"

Lars looked over the side of the couch. There were four beers left. "Yeah dude, we got a few over here."

James sighed again. "Toss me one, huh?"

Lars grabbed one and chucked it in James direction without really looking. James caught it and quickly opened it, drinking half of it in one shot. The rest of the band looked at him surprised."

"You sure you should be drinking that?" Kirk asked. "I mean, you did just get out of rehab last month."

James shot him a glance. "What? You're gonna sit there and tell me that after all that we've just been through, you wouldn't say, just for a second, to hell with the rules and just kick back?"

Kirk stared at him. "I…I guess not. Good point."

James nodded. "That's what I though." He took another sip.

"I wonder what's on right now," Jason said, randomly.

Lars looked around for a remote to the large TV sitting in an Entertainment center on the far side of the room. He found it under his seat cushion. "I got it, guys."

He clicked on the set and sat back. He only changed the channel once, to get it off of the blank video channel. When the picture flashed to life, on the screen were three hedgehogs. They were playing rock and roll music in front of hundreds of animals in a stadium. The band members looked at each other. They knew what they were seeing. They all turned back to the TV, sat back, and enjoyed one last show by the Sonic Underground.

THE END.

* * *

_Well, there it is. SM: Sonic Meets Metallica. I know this might not have been the best way to end the story, but I really was running low on ideas._ _I wanted it to have a real happy ending, and this was all I could come up with._

_Anyway, it was a fun story to write, and I thank everyone who read and reviewed. You guys really helped me to accomplish this. You guys are awesome! Thanks again!_


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